


Into the Unknown

by Morgana24



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Dansen - Freeform, Dansen Breakup, Danvers Sisters, Endgame, F/F, Sanvers - Freeform, SanversEndgame, Virtual Reality, parenting, soulmate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:28:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 59,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23579938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morgana24/pseuds/Morgana24
Summary: On her phone, on takeout menus, on billboards, Alex had been seeing the same phone number everywhere.But why? What could it mean?Was she going crazy? Was someone trying to drive her crazy? Or was it something much less sinister and far more... consequential? Maybe even endgame?Once again the wonderful Jen has made a brilliant trailer for this fic.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkaCSlkBYPICheck it out. You won't regret it!If you're looking for a place that's all Sanvers, I've also started a discord. All are welcome to discuss the fandom, share favourite fics, news and pics.https://discord.gg/jyh5aC
Relationships: Alex Danvers & Kara Danvers, Alex Danvers/Kelly Olsen, Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer
Comments: 119
Kudos: 210





	1. Chapter 1

_“I can hear you, but I won't._

_Some look for trouble, while others don't._

_There's a thousand reasons I should go about my day,_

_And ignore your whispers which I wish would go away, oh oh oh.”_

  
  


Alex rubbed at her eyes tiredly with one hand as she stood in front of the video wall in the DEO operations room. It had been a very long day, but the DEO had finally managed to catch a serial killer alien known as Roach who had been terrorising the citizens of the Docklands area for close to a month before the combined efforts of the NCPD, the DEO, and Supergirl had finally been able to corner him.

He hadn’t gone down without a fight, however, and five of her agents were being transported back in medical evac choppers to receive urgent treatment in the infirmary which had already been prepped to await their arrival. Thankfully, Agent Vasquez’s preliminary on site assessments had suggested nothing life threatening had been sustained by any of the agents, so Alex was chalking this one up as a win, under the circumstances.

“Director Danvers,” Agent Dox, also known to his friends as Brainy, approached her side with a tablet in hand which he was studying as he spoke. 

Alex glanced at him out of the corner of one eye, still pinching the bridge of her nose between finger and thumb as she tried to ease the tension that had built up behind her eyes through stress over the past couple of hours.

Brainy seemed not to have noticed as he was still studying his tablet intently. “First of the medical evac choppers has just landed on the roof, and the second has an E.T.A of thirty four point seven two five seconds. The infirmary is prepped and ready for the arrival of the agents. However, it appears there are now six who need treatment. Agent Whitby was discovered unconscious with a suspected concussion and is also being brought in.”

Alex nodded slowly as she dropped her hand back to her side, placed both on her hips instead and tilted her head backwards, eyes closed. “Good. That’s… good.”

“It is?” Brainy asked in confusion as he finally looked up at her. “Director Danvers, I have just informed you that a sixth agent is in need of medical attention and you respond that this is good? Perhaps I have missed something?”

“Huh?” Alex’s eyes blinked open and she sighed, turning to look tiredly at him. “Oh, no, I meant… it doesn’t matter. I’m just glad we got the bastard, that’s all. Make sure the agents get to the infirmary immediately and keep me updated on their conditions.”

“Of course,” Brainy nodded, watching her with narrowed eyes. “Also Supergirl is inbound with our pesky Roach. Shall I have her put him in an interrogation room for you?”

“Not tonight, Brainy,” Alex shook her head and turned away from the video wall at last, her hands dropping from her hips to rest at her sides. “Let him stew in a cell overnight. I’ll see him tomorrow.”

“Very well. Director Danvers?” Brainy paused, not too sure he should carry on, but knowing it was too late now anyway. Still, he waited for Alex’s acknowledgement of his question, which came moments later with a barely concealed eye roll.

“Yes, Brainy?” There was a definite growl to her words that she wasn’t able to hide, however. A growl of frustration at his apparent need to keep her talking when all she wanted to do was go home.

“May I enquire, is there something wrong, Alex?” Brainy stepped closer to minimise the risk of anyone else overhearing his informal use of her name instead of her title. “You seem somewhat distracted. If I’m not mistaken - and I very rarely am - that is the seventh time today you’ve pulled your phone out, looked at the display, frowned, and put it away again without further action. You seem less pleased each time. Would you care to discuss what’s upsetting you?”

Alex blinked, surprised by his comment. Unlike Brainy, she hadn’t been keeping count. Her hand went to the utility belt of her combat suit where she kept her phone. She withdrew it to have a look and glanced at the screen then shook her head, her hand already moving to replace it again. “It’s just a wrong number.”

Seven of them, just as he’d predicted, and all of them saying the same thing. ‘Call me.’

“Interesting,” he mused as she locked her phone then paused to glance at the lock screen wallpaper for a moment, which was a picture of herself and her girlfriend Kelly Olsen. Then she replaced the phone at her belt again as she started to walk towards the locker room, Brainy falling into step beside her. “Very interesting.”

Kelly was away in Metropolis for a couple of weeks on a business trip, so Alex had her place to herself, which meant that if she wanted a quiet night in with her pyjamas, a bottle of scotch and some trashy tv for company, Alex knew she should just keep walking and say nothing in reply to his comment. There may even be some rocky road left, assuming Kara hadn’t found it already. 

And yet, even as these thoughts passed through her mind, her mouth had a whole other idea entirely. “What is?”

Brainy blinked at her, surprised. Apparently just as surprised as she was that she’d asked the question, it would seem. However, he quickly gathered himself back together and as one hand held his tablet down by his side, the other curled into a loose fist in front of him, as it so often did when he was trying to explain a point or process in great detail. “I am merely observing that whoever is sending you those messages seems particularly persistent for it to be a simple case of ‘the wrong number’. Perhaps someone really does need your assistance?”

“And perhaps it's just some drunken fool texting the wrong person and not taking no for an answer,” Alex shook her head. “We’ve all been there. Whoever it is will realise their mistake in the morning.”

“Yes, but what if it’s _not_ just a wrong number?” Brainy pressed, getting more and more animated as he somehow convinced himself of this fact, even if he was currently failing to convince Alex herself. “What if these are messages from someone who needs our help? They are desperately reaching out, hoping and praying that we will hear their cries and go to their aid.”

“If that’s the case-” Alex pushed open the locker room door and held it open for him, before following him through. “- then why haven’t they tried calling? Why are they just sending the same exact message over and over, but not saying anything else? If they need help, why aren’t they asking for it, specifically?”

“Perhaps they cannot specify what is wrong?” Brainy suggested as Alex walked over to her locker, unlocked the door with the set of keys from her belt, then reached inside and pulled out her bike helmet and leather jacket. 

Setting them on the wooden bench behind her, she started to unclip the kevlar breastplate and wrist guards of her combat suit that she was wearing, placing each piece carefully inside the locker and only half listening to Brainy as he explained - in great detail - about some movie from 2004 called Cellular that he and Nia had watched together the evening before. It was a movie, he informed her, about a woman who was kidnapped and held hostage in an attic with a broken phone. Using the wires of the broken phone, she was able to dial a random number and had to convince the guy on the other end of the line that she was in danger and needed his help.

Noting the look in Brainy’s eye as he finished explaining the synopsis of the film with a flourish, Alex shut her locker door with perhaps a little more force than was necessary, making him flinch. But he never lost the spark in his eyes.

With a defeated sigh, Alex held out her hand and motioned for his tablet. Then, placing one booted foot on the wooden bench, she carefully balanced the tablet on her knee as she withdrew her phone from her belt again and copied the digits of the number across onto his tablet. Once done, she tucked her phone away and gave the tablet back to him again.

“Run the usual scans and checks on it, and if you still think there’s something to it then call me.” She held up one finger to him and fixed him with a stern glare. “But only if it is something important. Do you understand?”

“Affirmative,” Brainy nodded. 

The two of them stood there for a few moments longer, as Alex pulled her jacket on, her eyebrows slowly rising higher and higher with each second that passed. At last, she groaned, once again knowing she would probably regret it, but her mouth was apparently working of its own accord yet again. “Anything else, Agent Dox?”

“Oh, I… um… no, Director Danvers. I shall get on to this immediately.” He bobbed his head in an awkward nod to her. And then he managed a somewhat awkward smile as well, realising that they were alone and he didn’t need to be so formal. “Have a good evening, Alex.”

“You too, Brainy.” Picking up her bike helmet, Alex turned and headed for the door, though she did pause to glance back to him briefly. “Don’t stay up too late.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” he nodded again, tucking the tablet close to his chest, his other arm held behind his back as he stood up straight to attention.

Alex offered him the ghost of a tired smile then left, heading down to the parking lot where her bike was waiting for her.

She’d barely made it out of the underground parking lot, however, when the comm device built into her helmet crackled momentarily, and then a familiar voice sounded in her ear.

_“Hey, Alex, Brainy said you were headed home for the evening? Did you forget sister night round mine?”_

“Crap,” Alex groaned. “Kara, I’m so sorry. This whole thing with Roach and everything else this weeks, it’s just been—”

_“Hey, no I get it. It’s fine,”_ Kara was trying to sound optimistic, but failing dismally. _“We’ll just… some other night, I guess? I just figured with Kelly away and all… but it’s fine.”_

Glancing up and down the road to see that it was clear both ways, Alex was struck with a dilemma. If she turned left, she could be home within ten minutes. If she turned right, she could be at Kara’s in five. As much as she desperately wanted to turn left, she found herself indicating and then pulling out to the right. “No, no I’m on my way.” 

She’d made a promise after all. It was a Thursday night, and Thursday nights were always sister night. Always had been, always would be. 

She could practically feel Kara’s excitement radiating down the line as her sister let out a squeak of glee. _“What are we watching tonight?”_

“I dunno,” Alex slowed down then came to a halt at a red light, the engine ticking over and humming with power as she waited for the lights to change. “You pick.”

_“Alright, but hurry up. I’m not sure how much longer I can go before I have to order without you. I’m starving.”_

“Kara, you’re always starving,” Alex chuckled as the lights changed and she kicked her bike into gear again, racing down the empty streets towards her sister’s loft apartment in the distance. “I’ll be there in five.”

<><>

Okay it had taken Alex six minutes to get to Kara’s in the end, but the look on Kara’s face as Alex walked through her door could have fooled anyone into thinking it had actually been six hours.

“Don’t give me that look!” Alex warned as she set her helmet on the kitchen worktop and shrugged off her jacket, dumping it alongside the helmet. Then reaching up, she undid the hair clips holding the longer strands of hair into place on top of her head, allowing it all to fall loosely once more. It opted for a right handed parting this time, so she tucked the strands back behind her ear and left it as it was. “I got stuck at every red light possible between the DEO and here.”

Pulling her phone from her belt before she also unclipped that and set it with her jacket and helmet, she carried her phone over to the couch and flopped next to her pouting sister, only now noting the array of take out menus spread across the coffee table. “You weren’t kidding when you said you were starving.”

“Nope,” Kara shook her head, the P popping as she gathered the menus and dumped them in Alex’s lap. “I’m gonna go grab you a change of clothes. You get dialling.”

“What are we having?” Alex leafed through the various menus.

“All of it?” Kara shrugged as she headed to her window, unlatched it and was gone before Alex could even remind her that she was still in her civilian clothes.

“If anyone sees her flying dressed like that,” Alex grumbled to herself, making a mental note to reprimand Kara’s foolishness when she got back. Then she picked up the pizza menu, turned it over to get the number from the back - and paused.

Unlocking her phone, she scrolled to the text messages that kept pinging through (she’d had another two since leaving the DEO) and hit the details option to see the number they were being sent from. Then she held the phone up in front of her, next to the pizza menu, to compare them. 

“What the—?” Her eyes cast about at the other menus, looking for another pizza one, as Kara was often known to have about four or five of the same menus, just in case she accidentally misplaced one. Regardless of the fact she knew the entire menu off by heart, cover to cover, front and back and actually didn’t need a menu at all.

As she was pushing aside a couple of the other menus in her search, Alex paused, then picked up a menu for Mo Lin’s Chinese and held that up as well. Same number. Then a menu for the Thai Lotus, and Il Sorriso Italian.

“O-kay. What the actual fuck?” 

Spreading the menus out on the table so that she could see all of their phone numbers clearly, she held her phone and turned her eyes constantly between the phone and each of the menus in turn. The same number was on every single menu. The number that had been texting her over and over all day. 

Her phone pinged again and another text message appeared. ‘Call me.’

“I’m just tired,” she shook her head, flopping back into the cushions of the couch and rubbing her eyes with the heels of both hands. “I’m tired and I’m imagining things. That’s all.”

Silently counting to five, she sat up again, picked up her phone and the menu, intending to dial the pizza place this time, when she realised that the number was still the same. The number on her phone, and the number on the pizza menu. Another quick glance at the other menus confirmed that they were all the same as well. 

“Son of a - alright, fine! I’m calling you! Whatever the fuck is going on here, let’s just get this over with,” Alex exclaimed into the silent apartment as she hit dial on her phone and held it up to her ear. 

It rung a grand total of five times without answer, but just as Alex was about to hang up on the sixth, the line clicked and finally someone spoke.

Two words. That was all it took. Two simple words, and Alex hitched in a breath so sharp that it physically hurt. Like a knife to her chest. Whatever she was expecting, it certainly hadn’t been that. It was as if time itself just stopped. She forgot how to breath. She forgot how to move. Her heart forgot how to beat. For what felt like an eternity, Alex Danvers forgot how to even exist. All thanks to two words, spoken down a phone line from an unknown number.

<><>

When Kara returned with Alex’s clothes tucked under one arm, she found her sister sitting on the couch, in a state of shock. 

Running to her sister immediately and dropping to a crouch in front of her, Kara took the phone from her sister’s motionless hands and set it to one side, not even noticing that there was an ongoing call.

“Hey, Alex? Alex, hey, talk to me? Alex, what’s going on?” Kara took Alex’s hands in her own, urging her sister to snap out of her trance-like state. 

If Alex had been a computing system, there would most definitely have been some sort of error message on the screen right now that said:

**An unknown error has occurred. Alex Danvers will now shut down.**

**If the problem persists, please contact system administrators.**

As it was, Kara kept calling her sister’s name over and over, but it wasn’t until a gentle hand was placed on Alex’s pale cheek that she finally blinked and slowly came back to her senses, as if waking from some sort of dream.

“Hey,” Kara smiled gently when at last Alex was able to fix her gaze back on her sister. “Hey, there you are. What happened?”

“I… um…” Alex tried to speak, but her voice was coming out in a hoarse rasp, so she cleared her throat and then tried again. “The phone.”

Kara glanced to the phone and only now realised that there was a voice calling out to them, asking if everything was okay and what was going on. Picking the phone up, Kara lifted it to her ear and then said carefully, “This is Supergirl. Who am I speaking with?”

There was a pause, and then from the other end of the line, _“Well, shit.”_

“Maggie?!” Kara gasped, recognising the voice instantly, just like her sister had. “Wha- What’s going on?”

_“That’s exactly what I want to know!”_ Maggie exclaimed. _“Is everything okay? What the hell’s going on? My phone rang, but when I answered there was no-one there. I thought it was a butt dial, but then I heard you calling to Alex. Has something happened?”_

Kara glanced to Alex, who was now sitting with her head in her hands, then shook her head even though she knew Maggie wouldn’t be able to see it. “I’m not sure. But I’ll find out. It’s great to hear from you, by the way.”

_“Um… yeah… likewise, Little Danvers.”_ Maggie’s alarmed tone had faded back to more of her usual, familiar one instead, perhaps knowing that Supergirl was there with Alex and would sort out whatever was going on. _“How… how have you been?”_

“Good,” Kara nodded, pushing her glasses up her nose as she stood up, walking away from her sister and taking the phone with her. “Things are good. How about you?”

_“Can’t complain.”_ There was a long, drawn out silence as neither of them knew what to say to the other, before at last Maggie sighed. _“Listen, kid, as great as this was, I really have to get back to work. Could you do me a favor and find out what the fuck this was all about? Because I’d sure as hell like to know now.”_

“Of course,” Kara nodded, immediately. “I promise, you’ll be the first to know. Soon as I know anything.” She glanced back at Alex, then with a sad smile added, “Take care, Maggie.”

_“You too, Kara. And… say hi to your sister for me?”_

“Sure thing,” Kara disconnected the call, hesitated for a moment then stepped back over to the couch, sat down gently and placed a comforting hand on Alex’s back.

Alex still had her head in her hands, but she wasn’t crying. Her grief went so much deeper than that, but Kara could feel it radiating off her in waves. 

Grief, sadness, regret, pain. So, so much pain. 

Every feeling that Alex had been working so hard to force down and bury since she and Maggie parted ways. Every feeling that she had convinced herself and the world that she wasn’t feeling, just so that she could put on a brave face and carry on as if nothing had ever happened.

Every single one of those feelings had now erupted like a dormant volcano, awoken at last, only to catch everyone by surprise. 

Kara knew that when her sister was like this, words wouldn’t help. Not even scotch would. What Alex needed, right there and then, was just someone to hold her close and help her to realise that her world hadn’t ended after all. As much as it may have felt like it had, there really was hope on the horizon. She just needed someone to guide her towards it.

And as much as her growling stomach protested, Kara knew that her sister was far more important than food, right at that moment. So she leaned across and wrapped Alex into a big hug, pulling her close. Alex crumpled in an instant, falling into Kara’s arms like a wilted flower as she buried her head in Kara’s strong shoulder and the first sobs began to escape, getting more and more pronounced as the walls finally came down and a tidal wave of repressed emotions burst free.


	2. Chapter 2

_“You're not a voice,_

_You're just a ringing in my ear._

_And if I heard you, which I don't,_

_I'm spoken for I fear.”_

  
  


The next morning, Alex woke on the couch in her sister’s living room to the smell of freshly ground coffee and cooked bacon. From the direction of the kitchen behind her, Kara was happily working away at breakfast, humming softly to herself. 

Alex scrubbed at her face with her hands for a moment, then sat up and swung her legs round with a slight groan as the fleece blanket fell to the floor, pooling at her feet. Her whole body ached in protest and she was soon reminded of the reason she didn’t often stay over at Kara’s any more. The couch was definitely no substitute for an actual bed, although she’d been in no fit state - either emotionally or physically - to make her way home to her own one last night so was grateful that her sister had let her crash there, all the same. 

Kara had also loaned her a pair of pyjamas, though the bright sunshines, rainbows and unicorns certainly didn’t reflect Alex’s current mood or state of mind and were far too bright for her liking. Still, it was better than spending a night in her combat suit or the skinny jeans and shirt that Kara had fetched from her place for her. 

“Morning.” Speaking of things that were far too bright, Kara’s voice called cheerily to her from the kitchen. “I made you breakfast!” 

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll be there in a sec.” Alex groaned again, waving a hand vaguely in her sister’s direction as she stretched some of the aches out of her joints, then rolled her neck and shoulders, wincing a little as something cracked. 

After a further minute to fully come to her senses, she stood up slowly and stretched again, then padded barefoot over to the kitchen unit where Kara was setting out two plates piled high with various breakfast foods, from muffins to pancakes to bagels to bacon and eggs. There was a glass of juice beside the plate along with a mug of steaming coffee, made exactly the way Alex liked it, complete with a spoon of honey. 

“I didn’t know what you wanted, so I made a bit of everything,” Kara shrugged as she dished a couple more strips of bacon onto Alex’s plate, and the last remaining strips onto her own. 

Had this been anyone else, Alex might have berated them for wasting food by cooking more than one thing or making an unnecessary amount of everything instead of just asking her what she wanted. But with her sister, there was absolutely no danger of there ever being any leftovers that would go to waste.

Using her fingers to pick up a strip of bacon which had been cooked to a crisp, just the way she liked it, she nibbled on it for a moment, then dropped it back onto the plate and picked up the mug of coffee instead, blowing it gently to cool it a little before taking a few sips.

Kara took a large bite out of a pancake drenched in syrup, chewed thoughtfully for a moment, then broke the silence at last as she spoke around the mouth full of food. “So… wanna talk about last night?”

“Nope,” Alex avoided eye contact as she carried on sipping at her mug of coffee.

“Alex,” Kara’s tone was low, not so much a warning but more of a reminder to her sister that she wasn’t fooling anyone. 

“You-” Alex set the mug back on the table and picked up a muffin, breaking a tiny piece off and popping it into her mouth. “- wouldn’t believe me. **_I_** don’t believe me, right now.”

“Alex,” Kara was using that tone again. “I’m a bulletproof, invulnerable, flying alien from an extinct planet who can shoot lasers from her eyes and freeze things in one breath. Try me.”

This garnered a small tug at the corner of one of Alex’s lips. It would have been optimistic to call it a smile, but it was a start. She broke off a slightly larger piece of muffin and popped it into her mouth as well, then set it down, finally looking up at Kara, who met her gaze patiently, albeit with cheeks that resembled a hamster as she continued to shovel in the food at a rate that would have been alarming to most humans.

“I don’t even know where to start.”

“How about-” Kara paused to swallow her latest mouthful, then continued. “-why you called Maggie?”

“But that’s just the thing,” Alex shook her head in confusion. “I didn’t.”

“Uh,” Kara frowned. “You kind of did.”

“I know but… I didn’t know it was her. She must have, I dunno, changed her number since we were together. I didn’t know it was her number.”

“Who did you think it was?”

“I don’t know!” Alex exclaimed, sitting back on the bar stool and running a hand through her somewhat unkempt hair in frustration. “That’s the thing. I didn’t know who it was, so I was calling them to find out.”

She could see Kara was trying to work all this out in her mind, even as she managed to fit an entire rasher of bacon into her mouth, chewed it for a moment, then spoke around it. “Explain?”

Alex took a deep breath, thinking it all through in her mind. “All day yesterday, I was getting text messages. Always the same message, always from the same number. Telling me to call them. _Asking_ me to call them? I don’t know. Anyway, I replied to the first few, asking who they were, what they wanted, how they’d got my number...the usual stuff. They never replied. They just kept sending the same message over and over. So I ignored it, assumed it was a wrong number, or a hoax, or a prank or something. But the messages kept coming, and then Brainy noticed and got on my case about finding out who the number belonged to. He seemed to think it was someone calling out for help, so I told him to do background checks on the number just to see what he could find. Mainly so he’d just leave me alone, but still.”

“Okay,” Kara swallowed the bacon, only to swiftly replace it with an entire pancake that she’d folded in half.

“That’s gross,” Alex scowled.

Kara raised a hand to cover her mouth and mumbled “Sowwy,” then made a ‘continue’ motion with her hand.

“When I got here last night and you told me to dial for food, I must have been, I dunno, delirious from exhaustion or something, because the same number was on the back of every single take out menu. The same number that had been texting me all day.”

“Whaaat?!” Kara exclaimed, flashing to her feet in an instant. Alex barely had time to blink before her sister was back at the counter again, an array of menus spread out in front of her as she studied each one. “They all look different to me,” she said at last. 

Alex took a couple of them to see for herself. Kara was right. Each and every number was different and unique to the place being advertised in each leaflet. With a sigh, she slid them back across to Kara, shaking her head. “I told you, I must have been exhausted from the whole Roach thing. Because I swear last night they all had exactly the same number on them.”

Kara reached across the counter and took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I believe you. What happened then? You called the number?”

“I got another text message first, telling me to call them, so yeah, I did. I wanted to know who was deciding to fuck with one very tired, very grumpy Director of a top secret government organisation, so I hit dial and waited to see who answered. I guess you know what happened after that.”

“You scared the life out of me, you know?” Kara admitted softly. “I thought you were under some sort of spell or trance or something. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what had happened.”

“Neither did I,” Alex shook her head and finally picked up the piece of bacon she’d nibbled at earlier. “Whoever I was expecting to be at the other end of that line, it wasn’t her.”

“Maybe Brainy’s had some luck at his end?” Kara suggested as she picked up her orange juice at last.

“Maybe,” Alex shrugged, though she wasn’t convinced. He would have called by now if he’d found anything important. “Or maybe I was just tired, and it’s one of those stupid things you do when you’re tired but have no idea why.”

“You don’t believe that any more than I do,” Kara scowled. “Of all the random numbers you could have dialled, it turns out to be Maggie’s? That’s got to be more than just a coincidence.”

Alex couldn’t offer any kind of retort to that because she was feeling herself sliding back into the whirlpool of emotions and memories - not all of them bad - that she’d been plunged head first into the evening before. Not wanting to drag herself through that again, she stood up sharply.

“Hey, where are you going?” Kara was on her feet in an instant as well.

“I’m going to have a shower then go to work. I need the distraction, and I have a Roach to interrogate,” Alex called over her shoulder as she headed towards the bathroom.

“Hey, Alex, can I-?”

“Help yourself,” Alex didn’t look back, but she heard the scraping of a plate being dragged across the counter so that Kara could finish everything on Alex’s plate as well as her own.

<><>

It turned out that Roach was just a regular douchebag. Alex could handle those. Interrogations were one of her specialities, and she had him singing like a canary within half an hour. It was almost disappointing how easily he’d cracked in the end, once she’d chiselled away a little of his rough, tough, douchebag exterior and found his weakness just beneath the surface. 

Leaving Agent Reiff to take his statement, along with the names of his associates and the syndicate who had been paying him to carry out the murders, Alex headed back to the operations room, only to be intercepted by Brainy on the way.

“Director Danvers, there you are!”

“Here I am,” she agreed, never breaking stride as he fell into step beside her. “You have something?”

“Affirmative,” he nodded. “Though, I fear it is not something you will be happy for me to divulge.”

She turned her head to look at him, as he scurried to keep pace with her, taking several steps to match every one of hers. 

“Alright, I’ll bite,” she said at last when it was clear that he wouldn’t continue. “Why won’t I like it?”

“Because it’s about the number you asked me to look into.” He dropped his voice low so that only she could hear. “The one that keeps messaging you.”

“Why are you talking like that?” Alex asked, matching his whispered tone, albeit in a sarcastic imitation.

“Because that number,” Brainy paused and glanced around, before he continued, clearly afraid of how she’d react. “Doesn’t exist.”

Alex stopped dead, one foot still hanging in the air in front of her, momentarily, before she placed it firmly back on the ground and turned her entire body to face him, giving him her full and complete attention, even as he very much shrunk back, wishing that she hadn’t. “What?”

“The number does not exist,” he repeated quietly.

“Are you saying that I made it up?” Her voice was low, now. Low and dangerous. It was a loaded question, and Brainy would need to tread very carefully from here on.

“Not at all, Director Danvers,” he spoke quickly, pulling his tablet up to apparently study something, though Alex got the impression that perhaps he was trying to use it as more of a shield, instead. “However, the number you gave me appears not to exist. I have run it through every database, cross referenced every phone network and communications grid, both public and private. I even hacked into several sources beyond the parameters of the DEO, including the Pent—”

“Say the Pentagon and I cannot be held accountable for my actions,” Alex growled, fixing him with a fierce glare. “There is an extremely fine line between breaking the law to save the planet, and actually breaking the law, Agent Dox, which you well know. We've spoken about this _many_ times! So I suggest you be very, _very_ careful with your next set of words.”

Brainy nodded, and visibly took a moment to compose himself before he continued. "Yes, of course. I understand. Allow me to rephrase. I used the information that was _available_ to someone of my resourceful intellect, to check the number across several different platforms. It does not exist. I even checked in case one digit was copied incorrectly - not that I doubt you for a single nano second, of course, but just so that I could be absolutely clear before I gave you my final assessment. Not knowing which of the digits could theoretically have been copied incorrectly, and needing to allow for repetition, I ended up needing to do a search of ten billion different numbers. It took me one hour, forty seven minutes and twelve seconds. It was quite exhausting.”

Alex drew in a deep breath, counted to ten silently in her mind, and then raised a single eyebrow at him. “And did you find anything useful?”

“Unfortunately not,” he gave her an apologetic shrug. “The number simply does not exist.”

“Well, that’s impossible because quite clearly it does,” Alex snapped. “You heard my phone, right?”

“Actually—” he stopped himself, even as Alex had already turned to walk away. 

Sensing his hesitation, she turned back to him slowly, her eyes narrowing. “You heard my phone buzzing when I got texts yesterday, Agent Dox,” she spoke in a low, warning tone. 

He flinched and backed away from her a little. “Actually, Director Danvers, I saw you checking your cellular device, but I never actually heard your phone buzz.”

“Brainy—”

“It was a busy day, hectic and noisy. Likely I could not hear your phone over the din of battle and post-battle goings on.”

Mouth a tight line, Alex pulled open her pouch, yanked out her phone, unlocked it, and held up the screen of incoming texts to Brainy. “There, what do you think of that? Is that real enough for you?”

“I…” His gaze shifted from the phone screen to Alex then back to the phone screen again, “Agent Danvers, I…”

“What? The texts are right here. They’re as plain as the nose on your—” As Alex stared at her own phone which was bereft of a series of repeated texts, she froze up. “But… but they were there. I saw them. They were there.”

“Of course they were, Director.”

“No, Brainy, they were there. I saw them. They were there.”

“I can verify that with—”

“Yes, that.” She shoved her phone away again and kept talking even as she walked away. “Go do your technology thing and run a check on my phone. Someone must have hacked me and deleted those messages. Find out who did it and we’ll find out what’s going on. Get on it.”

“Of course. I’ll get right on it!”

Alex stormed away again, muttering all the time under her breath about conspiracies. As she turned a corner, she ran headlong into Supergirl, and she may as well have walked into a solid wall, the impact was pretty much the same.

“Oh! Alex! I mean Director Danvers! Hi!” Supergirl gasped, throwing her arms out to catch a stunned and winded Alex as she staggered backwards. “Hey, are you okay? What’s going on? Is this about last night?”

“Not now Supergirl!” Alex exclaimed as she pulled back, once she’d caught her breath again. Then she stepped out of her sister’s arms and tried to storm off once more. 

But Supergirl had other ideas, and grabbing Alex’s hand, she tugged her sister into a side room.

“Get off me!” Alex growled, though she knew it was useless trying to resist because Kara had the advantage of strength on her side, and could literally pick Alex up and carry her wherever she wanted, if she felt like it. 

Once in the room, Alex began to pace furiously whilst Supergirl checked they were alone, then shut the door behind them. A moment of silence followed, broken only by Alex’s footfalls as she paced back and forth across the room, both hands raised to her head, almost but not completely covering her face. 

“Someone is fucking with me,” she muttered at last, after making a visible effort to calm herself down again. Supergirl leaned back against the door, arms folded across her chest, ready to listen but not saying a word. Alex was relieved. She needed to sort through things in her own mind, and couldn’t do that with question upon question constantly fired in her direction.

Eventually she stopped pacing and took one last deep breath. “At first I thought I was just over tired. You know how it is, too much work, not enough sleep, and the days start to blur into one. Then I thought maybe I was going insane.” She glanced up at her sister who still waited patiently. “Maybe… maybe there’s some hallucinogenic toxin at play here or… or I’ve been exposed to some sort of virus or…”

“If that’s the case,” Supergirl spoke calmly, “then why hasn’t anyone else been affected?”

“Exactly. Plus Occam’s Razor, the simplest solution is most likely correct, and the simplest solution is that someone is **_fucking_ ** with me!”

“Okay, okay, take a moment and breathe, Alex. Who is… messing with you? And why? What makes you even think there’s something wrong?”

“Kara,” Alex paced again, using her sister’s name now that they were alone together. “I’ve been seeing the same number everywhere. I saw it twice more on the way here from your place this morning: on a billboard and in a shop window. Both times I almost lost control of my bike because it caught me by surprise. It’s getting out of hand now. If I don’t sort my shit out, someone is going to get hurt.” Supergirl opened her mouth to speak, but Alex wasn’t finished. “And then I get here and Brainy tells me that this number I’ve been seeing everywhere… it doesn’t exist. He can’t find any traces of it, anywhere.”

“That’s not possible,” Supergirl shook her head. “It’s got to exist. How else have you been getting those messages?”

“They’re gone, look!” Alex exclaimed and yanked her phone from her pouch, unlocking it and thrusting it into Supergirl’s face. “Someone deleted them. Look!”

“It’s not scratch and sniff, Alex.” Supergirl gently pushed the phone away to a more reasonable distance and frowned. “Okay, so I see a text from me, one from Kelly, that one’s from me with an attachment. I bet it was either a picture of a puppy or food. There’s another Kelly text. That one—”

“They’re gone,” Alex said as she pulled the phone back and shoved it into her pouch once again. “I told you. Someone deleted them.”

“But… Who could have deleted them? Did you do it?”

“What? No.” Alex’s hands went back to her head once more. Had she been wearing her hair down, she’d have been frantically running her fingers through the deep red strands by now. As it was, all she could do was interlace her fingers around the back of her neck, tip her head back and groan loudly in frustration. “Why would I do that? Do you think I’m crazy?”

“Alex,” Supergirl had stepped away from the door now, frowning, “no one is calling you crazy. No one is saying anything like that. It’s just, who else has access to your phone? These are government encrypted phones. Brainy says there are no safer phones on the planet in this century, so outside of you, who could have done it?”

“I… I… No one. It was me, or the messages never existed. Either way, it's me, and I’m crazy.” Alex closed her eyes and let out a long and shuddering breath. “I’m crazy.” When she felt strong hands grip her shoulders, she opened her eyes again. “Kara—”

“You’re not crazy.”

“But you said no one—”

“No, I asked who could have done it because you’re not crazy. These are the most secure phones on the planet, so if someone is messing with you, they would have to be some ridiculously powerful tech genius who wants to make you think you’re crazy, and that would be crazy.” Even while Kara smiled blindingly, Alex just squinted. Finally, Kara shook her head and said, “Anyway, I don’t think you’re crazy, and I also don’t think the numbers were there.”

“It’s got to be one or the other.”

“Nope. There’s a third option.”

“Now you’re driving me crazy.” Alex turned and walked away. When she reached the wall of the room, she stalked back to the table in the centre, pulled out a chair, and flopped down into it, burying her head in her hands. She took a deep breath before lifting her head and glaring at her sister. “Okay, so what the hell do you think is going on?”

Cautiously, Supergirl approached the table and sat down opposite her sister. “So only you can see these messages?”

“Apparently,” Alex said between gritted teeth.

“And only you can see these numbers that keep appearing everywhere?”

“A number that doesn’t even exist.” Alex dropped her head and curled both hands into tight fists.

“Alex, I don’t think you’re losing your mind at all,” Supergirl reached out a hand and took one of Alex’s in her own, giving it a soft and gentle squeeze. “Hey, look at me, I think I might know what’s going on.”

“You do?” Alex looked up at her sister and frowned, not quite believing it, sure there must be some sort of catch.

“I do,” Supergirl reached out and took her sister’s other hand, and as Alex looked into those big blue orbs, so full of hope and sparkle, she couldn't help but feel just that little bit better already.

Taking a moment to collect herself back together, she nodded. “Okay, what’s going on? Am I losing my mind?”

“Not at all,” Supergirl smiled gently. “I think you’ve found your soulmate. And they’re trying to reach out to you, through this number.”

Alex blinked, lost for words. At last she let out a tired, humorless laugh. “You’re an idiot.”

“No, I mean it, Alex. I’m serious,” Supergirl fixed her with a gaze that caused Alex to pause, then reconsider this being all some huge joke at her expense. Her sister was being serious. 

“I…. what?” She stammered at last.

Supergirl sat back in her chair with a patient smile. “Clark told me that when he first moved to Metropolis, he kept getting all these really weird things happen to him, and they all kept leading him back to one person. No matter what he did, no matter how much he tried to resist, he kept getting drawn back to one person, and one person alone.”

“Lex Luthor?” Alex raised an eyebrow. “Kara, if you’re telling me that I’m about to meet my arch nemesis, I think it’s gonna have to be a hard pass. I’ve got enough on my plate as it is.”

“What?” Supergirl was the one to frown in confusion this time. “What does Lex have to do with - oh! Oh! No, nonono Alex, that’s not what I meant.” She laughed and got up, walking round the table to wrap her arms around her sister from behind and rest her chin on Alex’s shoulder. “I love you, Alex, but you’re such a doofus sometimes. I wasn’t talking about Lex. I meant Lois.”

“Lois?” Alex shuddered a little. “Poor Clark.”

“Hey, be nice,” Supergirl chuckled, still hugging her sister. “You love Lois really.”

“You ever admit that to anyone and you’re dead,” Alex mumbled, though it was an empty threat that made her sister chuckle again. “And what’s your point? Clark kept bumping into Lois? That’s hardly newsworthy. She’s a magnet for trouble. He was probably saving her about 95% of the time from whatever trouble she’d gotten herself into.”

“I… well… alright maybe he was, about 75% of the time,” Supergirl shrugged with a sheepish grin. “But my point is, he kept having weird stuff happen to him too. And every time, he was drawn back to Lois. They’re soul mates, destined to be together, and maybe that’s what’s happening with you now?”

“As much as I admire your eternal optimism, Kara,” Alex sighed, shaking her head. “You’re forgetting one very important thing.”

“Which is?” Kara stood up to allow Alex to finally stand as well.

“This number? It turned out to be Maggie’s, right?” Alex explained as she rose to her feet once more. “Maggie and I had our shot. We blew it. How can we be soulmates if we were together and now we’re not?”

“Okay, so remember that article I wrote last on soulmates?”

Alex frowned slightly, her memory stretching back, and then she shrugged.

“Really, Alex? It was February, not this one past but the one before. It was the Valentine’s Day edition?”

“Sorry.”

“Oh, come on. ‘Love is in the air and in the soul’ was the title, and there was a picture of—”

“Look, I didn’t read it, okay? I get busy, and I was very, very single. It wasn’t my favorite subject. Plus you put out articles every week. It’s a lot, Kara.”

Supergirl gasped, her hand clutched to the symbol above her heart. “You don’t read all my articles?”

“Ugh.” Alex rolled her eyes. “I know. I’m the worst sister ever. You should tell Mom all about it. Look, I’m having a rough day. What does this article of yours have to do with my phone number problem?”

“If you’d read my article, you’d already know,” Supergirl muttered before clearing her throat and speaking in a more normal tone but with a touch of attitude still evident. “So, I interviewed several couples who said they had known the person who ended up being their soulmate but had drifted apart from them for whatever reason. One moved to another country for work. One guy was studying to become a priest. Then there was this lady who was totally in the closet.”

Alex rolled her hand in front of herself, begging her sister to get on with it.

“My point is, they all had their soulmate in their life and didn’t move forward with the relationship, but the bond didn’t take no for an answer. The lady who moved for work started to get PowerPoint presentations about the guy she’d left behind. The Seminarian said the girl’s name was literally written in the bible. And the lesbian…” Supergirl blushed brightly. “Um… she had some material with pictures that were for private time, and she saw the woman she liked there so, um, yeah, that happened.”

“TMI, Kara. So what does this have to do with a phone number? You’ve lost me.”

“The soulmate bond speaks to the couple differently all the time. If you lose your soulmate, the universe, or whatever it is, just gets pushy until you listen. It isn’t one way. It isn’t something that we can just say “Oh, it’s words written on our skin. Got it.” It’s weird, different for everyone, and it’s hard to recognize. One guy said he thought it was just bad acid flashbacks. I think this could be it for you, your soulmate.”

“Or maybe I partied a little too hard in college.” Alex reached out and patted Supergirl’s caped shoulder gently. “But thank you for trying to cheer me up.” 

“Did it work?” Supergirl asked hopefully. “I can call Clark and get him to talk to you about what happened to him?”

“Thanks, but it’s fine,” Alex was making her way towards the door already when she paused, a hand hovering over the buzzing cell phone in her belt. She looked to Supergirl, suddenly wide eyed with panic. “Tell me you can hear that.”

With a kindly smile, Supergirl gave her head a gentle shake. “Sorry.”

“Damn.” Alex breathed, reaching out a shaky hand to her belt, taking the phone from the pouch and glancing at the screen, her eyes squinting shut as her breath hitched. “Same number.”

Supergirl stepped closer, grasping her sister’s shoulders as she peered down at the screen. “It looks blank.” Her words making her sister’s breath hitch as she looked back up to Alex who still had her eyes shut as her hands trembled around the phone, so much that it was impossible to tell if it was the phone vibrating or Alex trembling. “Hey, you’ve got this. Answer it.”

“I… I… “ Alex shook her head and jammed the phone back into the pouch on her belt again. “I can’t. I have work to do. And so do you. Shouldn’t you be out there catching criminals, or something?”

“Of course, right. I think there was a doughnut shop in peril somewhere. I’m going to go check them all, just in case.” Supergirl went to the leave but stopped with her hand on the door knob. “Alex, you’re okay, and if you need anything, just call me, okay?”

“Just go serve, protect, and glaze.”

Without another word, Supergirl was gone, and Alex was left with more questions than she had before. Soulmate? Nah.

<><>

The buzzing of Alex’s phone became an endless torture for her ears alone. Her pouch vibrated in a low hum that she swore made her leg shake down to the laces of her boot. When her phone sat on a table, it skittered with incoming messages that made her glare while others seemed not to even notice. Every time she tried to check her actual messages or make a call, that damn non-existent number would buzz her again. The damn Tell-Tale cell phone, the question in the back of her mind of whether or not she should have ended a relationship with Maggie and why she was thinking of Maggie when she was with Kelly, made her snippy with her agents, who by the end of the day had all learned to keep their distance and give her space. 

By the time she got home that night, she tossed her phone on the coffee table and collapsed onto her couch, ready to drink this day into oblivion… that is until her phone buzzed again. Sometimes, it’s just one piece of straw that breaks the camel’s back.

Alex snatched her phone off the table and swiped to answer, her cheeks already colored in frustration. “What?! What?! What?! You’re not even real! What do you want?!”

There were several beats of silence, and then a woman said, _“Alex?”_

“Oh my God, Mom?”

_“Yes. Why are you answering your phone like that? What’s going on?”_

Alex pulled the phone away from her ear and blinked at the word ‘Mom’ on the screen. Cringing, realising her mistake too late to be able to do anything about it now, she sighed inwardly and returned the phone to her ear. “I’m sorry Mom, long day, you know how it is. Killer aliens terrorizing the city, not getting enough sleep, the usual. Sorry. So, how are you?”

_“Hmmm. Well, I’m definitely doing better than you are. Is your sister alright? She seemed fine this afternoon, but you know what it’s like being a superhero. It can all change in seconds.”_

“She’s… well she’s Kara,” Alex shrugged, even though she knew Eliza wouldn’t be able to see such an action. “Let’s just say the doughnut shops of National City are under constant surveillance. Nobody will ever succeed in robbing any of them, that’s for sure. Or any of the food carts. Or Noonans. Or any other places that sell food.” Curling her feet up beneath her on the couch, Alex made herself a little comfier. “So not that I’m not loving the attention and all, but you never call me at this time of night. What’s up?”

_“A mother can’t just call and check up on her eldest child? Is that a crime now?”_

Alex silently cursed, as she pinched the bridge of her nose, squinting her eyes shut momentarily as she replied, “No of course not. Sorry. Like I said, I’m tired. It’s been a long week.”

_“Your sister said as much.”_

“She did?” Alex’s hand dropped back into her lap as she opened her eyes again. “Of course she did.”

_“Alex, Kara is worried about you. I couldn’t get a straight answer out of her. Honestly, she was so not straight, it was like I was talking to you, but she was obviously worried. Do you want to talk about it?”_

Alex wanted to say yes, but for the time being until she knew for definite what she was dealing with, it was perhaps one of those occasions where the fewer who knew, the better. “Like I said, I’m just tired. Being Director of the DEO is a hell of a lot more than I thought it would be. I mean, the few times when I was Acting Director were tough so I knew it wouldn’t be an easy ride, but this is on a whole other level. Seriously though, I’m fine.”

There was a heavy sigh over the line. _“Fine, but if anything comes up, anything at all, you can talk to me about it. I’ve been around a long time and have seen it all. I might be able to help.”_

“Unless you know a way of keeping Kara from eating everything in sight, including everything in the DEO canteen so the other agents are left with just salad, I promise I’m good for now.”

_“Have you tried getting veggie crisp bags and boxes to put around the food? It was the only way I could keep an Oreo in the house when she was a teenager.”_

Alex couldn’t help but chuckle. “Mom, you sneak! I am absolutely going to try that!”

_“See, parents are smarter than we look. Well, that’s one crisis averted. Don’t forget you have me on speed dial when you have kids of your own. Seriously, don’t forget. Grandmas are only a phone call away.”_

“Yes, Mom,” Alex rolled her eyes, though the smile didn’t leave her face. “Someday you’ll be a Grandma, I promise. You don’t need to keep dropping not-so-subtle hints all the time, you know.”

_“Alright, alright. So someday is…?”_

“Someday,” Alex really did groan this time. “Jeez Mom, I’m working on it. Give me a chance.”

_“I was working when I had you, Alex. Wait, are you having second thoughts about kids?”_

“What? Pssh, no. No of course not. It’s just Kelly and I are… we’re taking things slowly, that’s all. Besides, we couldn’t possibly raise a kid in either of our apartments, so we’re both saving up to get a place together. Somewhere bigger. More family-friendly. But these things take time, and with work at the moment, time is something neither of us have very much of.”

_“A place with Kelly, that’s a big step. You’re ready for that?”_

Alex didn’t rush to answer this time. Instead she thought about it for several long moments, before at last she nodded, even though again, she knew Eliza wouldn’t see the action. “Yeah. Yeah I think I am. I want to be a Mom. I’m so ready to be a Mom, and I can’t imagine having anyone more suited to the role by my side than Kelly, when that happens. A couple of months back when I thought that adoption was going to happen, you remember? Kelly was the one who calmed my nerves and showed me that everything was going to be fine. She was such a huge help, and besides, regardless of any of that, I love her.”

_“We could certainly use a therapist in this family. We’ll keep her busy. You know, Alex, if money is the biggest problem, you could have come to me about it. I think I’ve made it clear that I’m as ready to be a grandmother as you are to be a mother.”_

“Mom, it’s fine. I couldn’t do that to you. It wouldn’t be fair. Besides, Kelly and I are doing well. We’ve got a fair amount saved up already as a deposit. We just need a bit more. A few more months, maybe a year and we’ll be there.”

_“But children are expensive. Are you ready for those increased costs?”_

Alex faltered. “I hadn't even considered the extra costs,” she admitted reluctantly. Damn, now she really wished she’d got herself a drink before having this conversation. It was far too complicated to be dealing with this when she was sober.

_“Especially if you have a baby and there’s diapers and formula. Diapers, I remember those days. I was glad we didn’t have to deal with diapers with Kara, but her appetite more than made up for it. Are you looking at adopting a human or an alien? You certainly have experience with aliens.”_

“I… uh… well… Mom!” Alex rubbed at the back of her neck, then changed tactics and ran her free hand through her hair instead. “Jesus! What is this, twenty questions?”

_“Sorry, I just… Call it parental concern… grandparental concern.”_

“I get the hint, Mom, and I’m working on it,” Alex rubbed the back of her neck again. “Trust me, okay? Why don’t you ever get on Kara’s case about this sort of stuff?”

_“Does Kara want kids? Is she dating someone? Is Kara dating someone with kids and hasn’t told me? Alexandra, what are you keeping from me?”_

“Nope. I am not getting in the middle between you two. If you want to know what’s going on with Kara, ask Kara.”

_“Fine. I’m sure she's still awake. I think I’ll have a little conversation with your sister about her dating life. She was much more concerned with you when we spoke. Let’s see what she wasn’t telling me. Goodnight, Alex. I love you sweetie. Take care.”_

“Goodnight, Mom, love you too.” Alex ended the call with a sigh. “Yeah, good luck with that Kara.” No sooner had Alex put her phone down than it buzzed again. She didn’t have to look, just groaned as she listened to it skitter on the table, then grabbed a throw pillow and pulled it over her head. “This is why I drink.”


	3. Chapter 3

_ “Everyone I've ever loved is here within these walls _

_ I'm sorry, secret siren, but I'm blocking out your calls. _

_ I've had my adventure, I don't need something new _

_ I'm afraid of what I'm risking if I follow you _

_ Into the unknown…” _

  
  


When Alex’s phone buzzed, her initial reaction was annoyance. It wasn’t until the buzzing continued far beyond what had become her new normal that she picked it up, realized it was her alarm, realized why she had an alarm set, her whole mood changed, and she finally smiled. Her VR lenses for Obsidian Tech were set out and ready for this, and she’d worked an early shift so she’d be home in time. She had a date, and she had no intention of being late.

With her lenses in, Alex left her apartment behind and stepped into a virtual world. Her flannel shirt and jeans were left behind for a pinstriped suit. She adjusted her tie and brushed through her hair with her fingers, smiling down at the bouquet of flowers in her hand. The restaurant was one of Kelly’s favorites in Metropolis, The River Café. Live piano music greeted Alex’s ears even before the maître d’ approached.

“Miss Danvers? Your party is this way.”

Alex smiled, never tiring of the realism of the virtual experience. Her smile only grew when she saw Kelly waiting for her at the table overlooking the river. Kelly wore a red dress, simple but elegant, and when their gazes met, Kelly’s eyes lit up. It caused a tightness in Alex’s chest, and her step stuttered. When would she stop feeling like this when she saw her? Never, Alex hoped.

Kelly rose, exchanging a cheek kiss with Alex as they hugged.

“For you,” Alex said as she handed over the flowers.

“You got me flowers?” Kelly pulled them close and smiled as she inhaled the (virtual) scent. “You didn’t have to.”

“Uh… I think I did. You wrote them into the program.”

Kelly smiled back at Alex’s grin but didn’t respond to that. “Take a look at the menu. We’ve done quite a bit of work on the food programming. Everything should be delicious… I hope.”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out,” Alex grinned as she took a seat and picked up one of the menus. “Let’s see what we’ve got. Any recommendations?”

“The scallop appetizer is amazing here. I know you think the west coast does seafood right, but trust me, we know our seafood on the east coast too. The steak is to die for and huge. I couldn’t eat it all. I think your sister would be impressed,” Kelly waited until Alex looked up and held meaningful eye contact at that, “and that girl can eat. They make this little dessert called the Metro-Narrows Bridge. It’s a thin chocolate cake with a layer of chocolate mousse then they make actual bridge framing out of chocolate to make it look like the bridge on either side of the dessert. They decorate it with raspberries and drizzle it in raspberry sauce. It’s so good. I hope we got the flavor right.”

Alex listened to Kelly talking with a steadily growing grin. It was always so cute to see Kelly getting so involved in her projects like this, and taking such pride in them as well. So she nodded along as Kelly spoke, waiting for her to finish before she replied. “So, just remind me of one thing. This food isn’t really real, right? It looks and tastes real, but that’s all part of the experience. I’m not going to leave this place and find out I’ve consumed a ton of calories in the real world, am I?”

“Guilt free deliciousness. Alex, this has real potential for patients with eating disorders, whatever they may be. If we can make actual eating more transactional and turn pleasure eating into something not related into caloric intake, we could change the way we treat our bodies. It’s early days, but we’re hopeful.”

“Hey, if anyone’s going to do it, it’s you,” Alex smiled warmly, then nodded to the menu in her hands. “And in the meantime, sign me up for everything you just mentioned. It all sounds amazing.”

Kelly smiled, raised a single finger to someone behind Alex, and nodded. Then a waiter appeared with a tray of the very foods and began to dole them out.

“Damn,” Alex blinked in amazement. “Great service!”

“Sorry, did you want to actually order and wait?”

“Hell no,” Alex chuckled. “I’m starving. Hearing you talking about food reminded me that I’ve barely eaten all day. Maybe we can do the whole ‘proper’ thing when you’re back from your trip?”

“I’ll try to pencil you in.” Kelly grinned as she dished a few scallops onto her plate. “So, tell me how you’ve been keeping yourself out of trouble in my absence.”

“Me? In trouble? Never,” Alex scoffed as she dished herself a few of the scallops as well. “You know how it is, same old, same old. Criminals to catch, Supergirl eating everyone out of house and home, Brainy being… well, Brainy...more criminals to catch. The usual stuff. How’s your conference going?”

With a single scallop skewered on her fork, Kelly stared at Alex. She examined Alex for an awkwardly long time before nodding. “Things are going well. We’re enjoying a dynamic exchange of ideas, and we’ve overcome a lag issue on the interface front. National City is boring, huh?”

“Well, it’s never boring,” Alex shrugged before she took a bite out of one of her own scallops and momentarily forgot what she was saying. “Okay wow. This is… wow!” She eagerly skewered another and put that into her mouth as well.

“Thank you. We did a lot of work to get to ‘Wow’. Sight, sound, even touch, those were relatively easy senses to conquer, but taste has proven elusive… until now. I think we’re finally getting it.” Kelly picked up the flowers from the table, sniffed them, and laughed. “We’re still working on smell. All flowers smell like roses, but it could be worse.”

“What I wouldn’t give to not be able to smell things, sometimes,” Alex mused thoughtfully. “All those sewers we end up chasing people down, I might actually be able to do it one day without gagging.”

“Well, if you ever want to do a virtual alien hunt, I can give you sewers that smell like roses.”

Alex dropped her fork in surprise, then scrambled to pick it up quickly and cleared her throat. “Seriously? There’s such a thing? Where do I sign up?!”

“I can get you signed up. You’re in charge of signing up the bad guys.”

“Deal,” Alex nodded eagerly. Then she tried again to eat some of the food without throwing her cutlery everywhere. This time she decided to go for the steak, however, and after cutting off a small piece, she tested that as well, very nearly melting in her seat with a soft groan of satisfaction. “Ok, I’ve died and gone to Heaven.”

“I’m in your Heaven?”

“Absolutely,” Alex nodded. “This right now? All of it?” She motioned around her to their surroundings. “This is my idea of Heaven right here, right now.”

Kelly reached across the table, holding her hand palm up to Alex. “Mine too.”

Alex closed the gap willingly and placed her hand in Kelly’s gently, marvelling at how real it felt. “I still can’t get over this whole thing,” she spoke quietly. “If it weren’t for a few random anomalies, people could get lost in this place and believe they really were in the real world.”

“I’m glad you like it. You’ll love the real place even more.”

“The real place?” Alex’s brow dipped a little. She thought about it for a moment, then realisation dawned. “Oh. Real life Metropolis, you mean?”

“Right. I didn’t only choose this place because I love the restaurant. I wanted you to get to know it too so we could experience it together. I want you to get to know Metropolis so, you know, because you never know.”

“You never know what?”

“You never know where you’ll settle down,” Kelly said as she cut into her own steak. “National City is great, but you’ve only lived on the west coast. You really should experience other parts of the country and see what they have to offer, don’t you think?”

“I’ve been to Metropolis once or twice, whenever Kara dragged me to go see her cousin when she was a teen,” Alex shrugged. 

“So you’ve done the tourist thing. It’s not quite the same. Have you ever thought about transferring out this way for six months or a year to see how you like it?”

“Honestly? It never even crossed my mind,” Alex admitted with a shrug. “I’m not sure I’d want to. My family is all on the west coast. My job is here. My life is here in National City. Call me a creature of habit, but I’m not sure I’d ever want to change any of that.”

“Oh, well…” Kelly paused, studying her steak before smiling up at Alex. “Maybe this isn’t the best venue to discuss this. We can talk more when I get home. What’s Kara been up to?”

“Sure, we’ll talk about it when you get back,” Alex nodded, setting her cutlery down for a moment and looking around. “Any chance the drinks in this place are as good as the food?”

“We’re still struggling a bit with carbonation, but I do like my wine. Red or white?”

“This feels like a red kind of meal,” Alex picked up her knife and fork again and carried on cutting into her steak. She startled when the same waiter appeared at her elbow, pouring a glass of wine. “Still not used to that.”

“Sorry.”

“You realize you’ve spoiled me for actual food service back in the real world?” Alex smirked. “I’m going to hate having to actually wait for anything.”

“But Alex, good things come to those that wait.” Kelly smirked.

“Try telling that to my sister when she’s in the line at the doughnut store and is convinced they’re about to sell out before she gets any.”

“No thank you. I’ve seen your sister when she has to wait more than three seconds for anything fried. I’m fairly certain her picture is next to the word hangry in the dictionary.”

“If it isn’t already, it really should be,” Alex chuckled, picking up her glass of wine and holding it out for Kelly to clink hers lightly against. “To us.”

“To us,” Kelly said as she raised her glass and toasted. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be and no one else I’d rather be with.”

“Hear hear,” Alex agreed before taking a sip of the wine, savoring the taste for a moment, then nodding. “Not quite but almost perfect.”

Kelly sipped her own wine, a thoughtful look on her face. “Too fruity?”

“A little. Maybe tone it down just a bit.” Alex took another sip, and then grinned. “Hey, you need me to taste your scotch for you while I’m here?”

Kelly rolled her eyes, but she flicked a single finger up, and a waiter appeared with a snifter of scotch. “Please, be brutally honest. I’m not a scotch expert. Perhaps you and Lena could be imposed upon to do a taste test with the technicians one evening? They have the ability to make minor alterations through the neural feedback algorithm that will create real time changes to the virtual experience.”

“You had me at taste test,” Alex smirked. “An evening of drink and no hangover in the morning? That might just be my new Heaven.”

“How quickly I was replaced.” Kelly shook her head. “I see how it is. Hey, how’s your mom doing. Last time I spoke to her, she was going on about some breakthrough in skin grafting. Do you know if they got funding?”

“I think they’re still working on it,” Alex replied, shaking her head. “Though honestly I never got the chance to ask her, last time I spoke with her.”

“Is everything alright?”

“Oh, yeah it’s nothing I haven’t heard before,” Alex waved a hand dismissively. “Apparently I’m taking too long to become a mother, and she’s getting impatient.”

“Oh. Well, I can’t say I’m sorry I missed that conversation. Did you tell her we try and try, but so far, neither of us have gotten pregnant?”

“I just told her that we were taking it slowly and wanted to get a house sorted first. No point having a kid if we’ve got nowhere suitable to live, right? I mean, your apartment’s not bad, but my pokey little thing? We can’t raise a baby there.”

Kelly grew quiet, one finger playing with the stem of her wine glass.

“Hey,” Alex leaned forward and placed her hand over Kelly’s. “Are you okay?”

“Hmmm?” Kelly shook her head and smiled at Alex. “Sorry, got lost in my own thoughts. Yes, I agree about the apartment thing especially yours. We really need to do something about that. Add that to the ‘in person’ discussion list when I get back. If it makes you feel any better, my mom is no better on the grandparent front. Apparently, you’re a nice girl, neither of us are getting any younger, and neither is she.”

“Yeah, that sounds like a familiar tune,” Alex sat back in her chair, picking up her glass of scotch at last. “I’ve definitely heard that one before.” She raised the glass to her lips, took a sip, then smiled. “Well it’s not perfect, but you’re on the right track.”

“I’ll take right track. The first time I made scotch the tester’s response was that it tasted like scotch that someone else had already drank so… yeah, improvement.”

“Ouch, brutal,” Alex chuckled. “It can’t have been that bad, surely?”

Kelly chuckled as well, shaking her head. “After that review, I didn’t try it. This is why we have to pay people to do taste tests. Oh, speaking of which, I do still have a few slots open as we’re working on some foods back in National City. Do you think your sister might be interested?”

“Do bears shit in the woods? Of course she’ll say yes! If it’s food, Kara’s there, virtual or not.”

“What was I thinking? Maybe I should charge her… Hmmm. How do you think she’d react to a tower of doughnuts?”

“I think you’d better prepare yourself for some major pouting when she realises it isn’t real food.”

“I’ll take her to dinner afterwards. Finish your steak. You’re going to love dessert.”

The rest of the meal went much the same. The ladies chatted, laughed, talked about families, work, and skirted around their future a bit. Dessert was as amazing as promised, and Alex made a mental note to send Kara this way to try it for herself live and in person. It was over too soon, and Alex was holding Kelly with the light from the moon reflecting off the river, not wanting to let go even though it wasn’t real. It was the closest to real she’d had in just over a week.

“Just a few more days. I’ll be home before you know it,” Kelly whispered as she laid a gentle kiss on Alex’s lips.

“I’ll know it. Every day, every hour, every minute that you’re away, I’ll know it.”

They kissed deeply, their bodies pressed so tightly that the warmth from the other person bled through.

“Okay, this feels really real,” Alex said as she relaxed and took a half step back. 

“Doesn’t it? We did quite a bit of work on touch.”

“How did you manage to make the touch… you know what, never mind. I don’t want to know. I mean, I want to know, but I don’t want to know. When you get back, after a few drinks and some actual time together, maybe tell me then.”

Kelly chuckled, pressing another kiss to Alex’s lips before stepping back. “I do have some good stories, maybe not quite that good but then again…” Her eyes twinkled, and she smiled wickedly. “I’ll be home in a few days.”

“I’ll be counting. End simulation.”

Kelly blew Alex a kiss, and in between blinks, Alex opened her eyes, and she was sitting on her couch once again. Removing the contacts, she set them back in their case then placed her hand to her lips. Kelly’s lipstick didn’t come away on her touch, but she could still feel the warmth of her girlfriend’s body, the tingle on her lips. Suddenly, those few days felt like a very long way away.

<><>

As good as the virtual meal had been, Alex’s stomach was rumbling by the time she was out of the VR. She made herself a burger and some fries, opened a beer, and sat back with her feet up. So it wasn’t The River Café with its live piano music and moonlit views, but truth be told, Alex preferred it. There was something about a cold beer, a warm burger, and the privacy of one’s own living room that couldn’t be beaten. Fancy places were fine for special occasions, but when it came down to the basics, Alex was a basic comforts kind of girl.

Alex flicked on the TV and flashed through the channels. How was it possible to have over 100 available and still find nothing on? She finally settled on the news, a picture of her sister’s smiling face looking back at her along with information about a heroic bus rescue.

“Huh, she didn’t even mention that.”

Life saving heroism had gotten common place in the Danvers family.

The news changed to another report, this one breaking and live. There had been shots fired in a residential section downtown. No reports of injuries. The camera showed a bubbly reporter, huddled under an umbrella in front of a brick-faced building that looked much the same as most buildings in that area. However when the camera panned it, it showed bullet holes and graffiti that proved to be something else.

“Fuck.”

Alex’s beer foamed over as she slammed it onto the coffee table. Written on the building in neon green spray paint was that same ten digit phone number that had been popping up on Alex’s cell for the past two days. With a growl, she snatched the remote control up and clicked the channel over to another news station. It was also talking about the shooting, but this time the police were asking for anyone with information to come forward. When a phone number for tips flashed on the screen, Alex wasn’t even surprised that she recognized it.

“Fuck you.”

Angrily, she turned off the TV and tossed the remote onto the couch. Then she stormed off to the kitchen and came back with a roll of paper towels to clean up the alcohol abuse that was spreading across her coffee table. She threw out the mess and returned, pausing with her bottle in hand at the vibration of her phone. She let it buzz until it stopped once, twice, three times until her teeth were gnashed together so tightly she was sure they would break.

“Alright, alright already, you win!” Snagging her phone, which had mysteriously quieted, from the coffee table, Alex dialed the number she now knew by heart. It was answered on the third ring.

_ “Alex?” _

One breath in followed one breath out. How did that voice still feel like a kick to the kidneys after all this time. 

_ “Hello?” _

“Yeah, yeah, it’s me, Maggie. I just…” Alex swallowed so hard it hurt. “I’m sorry to call but… Forget about it. Sorry.”

_ “Alex, don’t hang up!” _

“I… uh…. Okay. Is something up?” Alex tried to wrangle her voice into something that sounded casual, but she had the sinking feeling that she was failing miserably.

_ “Fucking—” _ There was movement, the phone obviously pulled away from Maggie’s mouth, and then in hushed tones she said,  _ “Sorry, don’t listen to that.” _ Then she spoke again into the phone.  _ “Yeah, understatement of the century. Look, I’m in trouble, and I need some help. I don’t know if you’ve seen the news, but my safehouse was shot up.” _

Alex dropped to sit on the couch, but she didn’t recline or lounge back in it. She sat perched on the very edge, her entire body alert and tense, even as she replied, “I saw the stuff about the shooting. What the hell is going on, Maggie? Why were you in a safehouse?”

_ “Witness protection. Not me, it’s an assignment, and I’m protecting someone very special. Anyway, the ass..ignment isn’t going as well as it could be because a very not nice person with some very loud weapons showed up, and we had to high tail it out of there pronto. I don’t even know how that… jerkface found us. I’m worried there’s a leak in the department, so I don’t know where to turn. I need to find a place to lie low, someplace they won’t look for us. I can’t use my credit cards or the department’s cards. Right now we’re just driving around. I ripped the GPS out of my car, and I’ve got half a tank of fuel left. Tell me you’ve got an idea. I’m desperate.” _

It took Alex several moments to work her way through the conversation in her mind, processing everything she was hearing before at last she could find her voice again. “Jerkface? Since when do you call people jerkface?” Realising what she’d said, she resisted the urge to face palm. “No, wait, not important, wrong question Alex. Okay, where are you now?”

_ “Um… We just passed that Dairy Queen out on Coliseum Avenue.” _ In a whisper she added,  _ “No, no ice cream now.” _ Then again to Alex,  _ “We’re headed east. What do you have in mind?” _

“Your witness wants ice cream?” Alex asked, surprised. Then she frowned. “Wait a minute, you’re not with Kara, are you?”

_ “I wish. If my witness was B.U.L.L.E.T.P.R.O.O.F. this would be so much easier. Look, less yacking and more helpful ideas. You got any?” _

“Maggie, why are you spelling- ugh never mind, wrong question again. Okay, uh, hold on. Let me think. You’re close enough to the DEO, you could go there and I’ll get Brainy to set up some temporary accomodation for you both.” She stood up and began to pace, running her free hand through the longer strands of her hair. “Or there’s Kara’s place? They’d never think to look for you there. Although she might find it impossible to keep her secret around a stranger, so maybe not.” 

_ “Yeah, curiosity could be an issue. Look, I appreciate the help, but the DEO is a bit… foreboding. My witness is scared. I’ll uh… I’ll make some calls and figure this out on my own, but thanks for trying to help. It was nice hearing your voice anyway. Take care.” _

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be of any more help, Maggie. Really. Look just… take care of yourself and stay safe, yeah? If you could maybe give me a description of the guy, I can have Brainy run it through the DEO’s facial recognition software and see if we can’t help the NCPD to track him down quicker? But apart from that, my hands are tied. I’m sorry.”

_ “When I find a safe place to squat, I’ll take you up on that. Later, Danvers.” _

“Later, Mags.” Ending the call, Alex chucked her phone back on the coffee table then went to the kitchen to pour herself something stronger than a beer. Somehow after a conversation like that with her ex, beer just wasn’t strong enough. No sooner had she turned her back on her phone, however, than the now familiar and still incredibly irritating buzzing started up again. Alex glanced back over her shoulder with a scowl, then shook her head. “Nope. Not doing this any more.”

Striding purposefully into the kitchen, she pulled a clean tumbler from the cupboard and fished about for the scotch that she kept tucked at the back, somewhere. All the while her phone continued to vibrate and buzz, doing its utmost to drive her to distraction.

With a fresh drink in hand a few moments later, Alex went back to the sofa, took the phone from the table and shoved it under a cushion at the other end of the sofa, then settled down and turned the tv back on to try and find something to watch. 

But no matter what channel she flicked to, that same damned number kept cropping up over and over and over again, as the couch cushion took up an almost permanent buzzing and vibrating state now.

And all the while, Alex’s mind kept going back over the conversation she’d had with Maggie. Albeit brief, it had stirred up feelings inside that she’d fought so long and hard to bury. Yet now they’d all bubbled to the surface and the more she tried to forget about them, the stronger they became, the louder the vibrations of her phone became and the more and more frequently the phone number appeared on the tv screen.

“Goddamn it.” As she set her untouched glass on the table and delved under the cushion for the phone again, she couldn’t help but wonder if this was really such a good idea. Still, her thumb was moving of its own accord now, dancing across the screen to unlock the device and hit redial. Before she knew it, the phone was at her ear again as she waited for it to be answered.

_ “Danvers? Hey, long time no chat… This better not be your butt.” _

“Come and stay here,” Alex blurted out before she could stop herself.

_ “I… I’m sorry, I think you broke up. What did you just say?” _

Alex took a deep breath to compose herself and formulate her answer more carefully. “You need a safe place to stay. So, come and stay here. With me. At my place. You and your witness can stay here. The last place anybody would expect you to go is to your ex’s, right?”

_ “Uh… I mean, you’re right but… Really?” _

“Well, I mean if you don’t want to, that’s fine too. It’s just, you kind of sounded like you were out of options. And my whole life has been spent protecting people, so, you know. Why break the habit of a lifetime?”

_ “Wow. Hold on, okay?” _ Again, the phone seemed to be moved around, and Maggie’s voice was hushed.  _ “Hey, this is a friend of mine on the phone. She says we can stay with her. She’s with the FBI like on TV. What do you say, want to meet my friend? She’s a nice lady, okay? Yeah?” _ No one seemed to respond, but then Maggie spoke into the phone again.  _ “Danvers, we can be there in ten. Thanks, you’re a life saver… literally.” _

“I’d say anytime, but this is just as much of a shock to me as it is to you. There’s cold beers waiting for you and your witness if you want them. Sounds like you need them. So I’ll see you in ten, I guess. You still remember the way, right?”

_ “Blindfolded but I’ll keep my eyes open just in case. It’s probably safer driving that way. It’s raining cats and dogs out here.” _

Alex turned in surprise to look out the window. “Huh, I hadn’t noticed. Alright, drive safely, yeah? I’ve no idea which part of town Supergirl’s patrolling tonight, so she might not be around if you do get into trouble.”

_ “Rain is the least of my troubles. I’ll see you in ten, and I’m holding you to the beer. Later, Danvers.” _

“See you soon, Maggie.” Once again Alex hung up, and this time when she set her phone down, it was mercifully silent. She glared at it. “Really?! When I find out who’s behind this...” 

Picking up the tumbler, she drained the scotch in one go, then debated getting a second. She might need it for some extra courage, if she was going to have to see Maggie again. Deciding against it, however, she started pacing the living room instead, practically jumping out of her skin at every noise, every creaky floorboard, now well aware of the rain pattering against the rooftop. Seeing Maggie again would be tough, and no matter how much Alex psyched herself up, tried to get herself as ready and as prepared as she was ever going to be, she didn’t feel anywhere near close enough.

When the knock came at her door, Alex hesitated for a moment before she took in a deep breath and opened it. 

Dazzling brown eyes looked up at her from beneath a fringe of damp raven hair. Olive skin glistened slightly from the droplets of rain that the detective was trying her best to blink out of her eyes. And the dimples, although not evident, were twitching as if they wanted so desperately to make an appearance. Like Maggie was fighting hard to contain a grin as she stood in her soaked civilian clothes, hands resting on the shoulders of a soaked child who stood trembling and shivering, clutching a pink fluffy hippo with a tuft of bright blue hair to her like a life raft in a storm. She flinched when Alex opened the door, and Alex’s eyes dropped to Maggie’s reassuring hands on the girl’s shoulders as the detective gave her a gentle, comforting squeeze.

An eternity seemed to pass as Alex’s eyes roamed from the young child, back up to Maggie’s eyes, and then she looked away quickly, feeling a flush of heat working its way up her neck and across her cheeks. 

Maggie cleared her throat. “So, is it my imagination Danvers, or have you forgotten how a door works?”

Alex blinked, then realising that she was blocking the doorway, cleared her own throat quickly and looked down to her feet, even as she stepped back out of the way. “Sorry, come on in.”

The little girl hesitated, but Maggie again gave her an encouraging squeeze on one shoulder. “Go on in, Pheebs. This is Alex. We can trust her.”

Alex kept her eyes firmly focussed on the young girl as she passed, offering her a smile, even as she brushed her own hair back behind one ear because she wasn’t really sure what she should have been doing with her hands just then. All of a sudden she’d been struck with a serious case of nerves, and yet she had no idea why. It was Maggie. She knew Maggie.

And maybe that was the problem. Maybe this really wasn’t such a good idea after all.

Still, it was too late now. Maggie and the girl were inside Alex’s apartment, so she shut the door quickly and then turned to them, hands clasped in front of her for want of anything better to do with them.

Maggie was glancing all around with a look of vague familiarity. “This place hasn’t changed.”

“No, I… um… well I just never have the time to do anything different,” Alex shrugged.

“You have.” Maggie tilted her head back, chin jutting out as she offered Alex a weary smile. “Nice haircut. Glad to see you’ve embraced it. Go you.”

“I… what?” Alex asked in surprise, even as her hand went back up to her hair again. “Oh. Um… thanks.”

Maggie glanced back at her with a smirk. “So I hear you’re Director now, huh? What happened to J’onn?” Then the smirk dropped and her eyes widened. “Wait, he’s not—?”

“Oh no,” Alex shook her head quickly. “No, no he’s fine. He’s great actually.” The hand that had raised to her hair now dropped to rub the back of her neck instead. “He’s got his own private detective business now. It suits him. He’s much happier.”

“Good for him,” Maggie didn’t look back in Alex’s direction any more because she was too busy with the child. Crouching down, she encouraged the girl to jump up onto Alex’s couch, and then Maggie proceeded to pull down the hood of the little girl’s coat to reveal dirty blonde pigtails that had definitely seen better days, before unzipping the pink coat completely and encouraging her to take it off with some help. Once free of the confines of the coat, the little girl drew her hippo toy even closer, and buried her head into his fluff, looking for all the world as if she was hiding from everything and everyone around her.

“Here, let me,” Alex finally snapped back to her senses as she stepped forward and took the girl’s coat. Then she held out her other hand to take Maggie’s as well. Maggie shrugged her equally soaked jacket off eagerly and passed it to Alex who took both and hung them in the bathroom to dry. 

When she came back out, Maggie had taken the fleece from the back of the sofa and draped it around the girl’s shoulders. Alex watched quietly as Maggie unlaced the girl’s sneakers and placed them by the door next to Maggie’s and Alex’s, the three pairs lined up in size order like a little shoe family. It made something unnameable stir inside Alex. Then Maggie returned to the couch and spoke in hushed tones, well below Alex’s hearing range, to the girl. Still, the manner was soothing especially as Maggie reached out and smoothed down Phoebe’s hair. The girl leaned slightly into the touch, no hesitation or fear there. Alex just stood quietly off to the side for several moments of observation and… it wasn’t envy. It wasn’t, and she wasn’t ready to call it longing, so she didn’t put a name to it. When Maggie caught her eye, Alex smiled and nodded. Looking away, Maggie spoke gently to Phoebe for a moment once again. Whatever she said, the girl nodded, and Maggie smiled fondly then got up and walked to the kitchen area. Alex followed her over so that they could talk quietly.

“She’s your witness?”

“Phoebe Marsh,” Maggie nodded quietly.

Alex glanced back to the little girl and frowned. “How old is she?”

“Four and a half.”

“Fu—” Catching herself in time, Alex dropped her voice. “So that explains the ice cream and lack of swearing then. Why didn’t you tell me your witness was a child?”

“I had more pressing matters than to give you her 411. Now you see what I mean about her being a little too curious to stay with your sister and a little too shy to be at the DEO. The girl has already had a lifetime of trauma.” 

“What the hell did she witness?”

“Double homicide,” Maggie’s voice was barely audible, moving so close that it was almost an invasion of Alex’s personal space. But at that moment, Alex didn’t care. 

“That’s terrible.”

“Even worse when you consider the victims were her parents. And the bastard who did it is still out there, gunning for her now as well. She’s the only one who can identify him, so he’s wanting to tie up every loose end.”

This time Alex really did swear, a string of very colourful but thankfully very quiet words that made Maggie raise an eyebrow. 

“I’m impressed, Danvers. You’ve learned some new words.”

“Not every book in the DEO is high literature,” Alex blushed a little. 

“Were any of them even human?”

“One or two,” Alex managed a casual shrug this time. “Most were Kryptonian.”

“Huh,” Maggie nodded. “You got any beers?”

“Where they’ve always been. Help yourself.” Alex was leaning on the counter top, watching as little Phoebe snuggled down into the blanket and began to watch something on the tv that Maggie must have put on for her without Alex even realising until now. 

“This your new girl?”

Maggie’s voice distracted Alex and caused her to turn, only to find the detective pointing to a photo of Alex and Kelly that was pinned to the front of the refrigerator with a magnet.

“Yeah. That’s Kelly, Kelly Olsen, James’ sister.”

Maggie studied the photo for a moment longer, a smile playing across her lips. “You look happy. She’s cute.”

“She’s amazing,” Alex nodded without thinking. “She’s a doctor, actually. Well, a psychiatrist who works for Obsidian North.”

Maggie looked at Alex sceptically. “You’re dating a shrink? Do I even want to know how or why you two met?”

“What about you?” Alex asked quickly, eager to divert the conversation away from herself.

“Well, for a time there was Kate, but I think we’re on the outs. Since her new career, she’s been throwing herself into her work more and more, and I barely see her. And then I came back to National City, and this whole thing with Phoebe happened. Long distance relationships never work out, so I guess it’s only a matter of time.” 

“Long distance?” Alex frowned. “What do you mean you came back to National City? You went somewhere else?”

“I got transferred to Gotham for a time,” Maggie shrugged as she finally pulled the fridge open and helped herself to a beer. “It’s where I met Kate. Kate Kane. She’s Bruce Wayne’s cousin. Took over his business after he left.”

“Which business?” Alex smirked, giving Maggie a knowing grin.

Maggie opened her mouth to say something, then realised who it was that she was talking to. “Right, of course you’d know. Your sister?” Maggie pulled out two beers, uncapping them both and handing one to Alex.

“Kara mentioned she’d met Kate on Earth One. Wasn’t too hard to work out that your Kate is the same as her Earth One counterpart.”

“Yeah?” Maggie asked curiously before she took a swig from her bottle. “Sounds like an interesting story. Does everyone have an Earth One doppleganger?”

“No idea,” Alex shook her head. “You’d have to ask Kara.”

“What about you? Is there an Earth One Alex Danvers out there?”

“Oh yeah,” this time Alex nodded.

“Yeah? What’s she like?”

“Closet gay, according to Kara.”

Maggie snorted then tried desperately to cover it up as a coughing fit.

“Something funny, Sawyer?” Alex challenged with a wry smirk. 

Maggie waved her off, composed herself for a moment, then glanced back to Phoebe. “Any chance she can have the bed tonight? She’s not slept for the past four or five nights, and I’m starting to get worried about her. I try, but kids aren’t exactly my area of expertise.”

“Mind if I give it a shot?” Alex set her beer bottle down, made to move over to Phoebe, then paused and looked back at Maggie. “If that’s ok with you, I mean?”

Maggie motioned to Phoebe. “Please. If you can help her in any way, I’m all for it. The poor thing’s been through enough as it is, and I’m out of my element.”

“Alright. I can’t promise it will work, but I’ll give it a go.”

Alex walked over to Phoebe and crouched down at the end of the sofa, far enough from the little girl that she didn’t feel crowded or intimidated. Then she fixed Phoebe with a big, bright smile and softened her voice as much as she was able so that she hoped she sounded comforting and friendly, not scary and intimidating. It was a complete contrast to how Alex usually reacted. Normally she wanted to make herself as imposing and intimidating as possible, to get the point across that she meant business, and that whoever she was interrogating really shouldn’t mess with her. She wanted people to know that she knew six different and very painful ways to get them to talk using just her index finger.

Now, she had to be completely the opposite.

“Hey Phoebe, my name’s Alex. I’m a friend of Maggie. Is Maggie your friend too?”

Phoebe eyed her warily, hugging the fluffy hippo tighter. 

Recognising that as her comfort item, Alex decided to play that to her advantage. The hippo was Phoebe’s strength, and Alex could use it much like she often used the weaknesses of suspects she was interrogating. 

“He’s very cute. What’s his name?”

Again Phoebe didn’t reply, so Alex pretended to consider for a time. “I think,” she said at last. “That he looks like a Herbert. Is his name Herbert?”

Phoebe shook her head timidly, but it was the biggest reaction Alex had gotten from her so far, so she knew she was on the right track by using the hippo as leverage.

“No? Okay, how about… Duncan?”

Again Phoebe shook her head, a little more confidently this time.

“No?” Alex pretended to be shocked. “He’s not called Duncan? Huh. Okay, how about… Peewee? I think he must be Peewee?”

This time Phoebe giggled a little before trying to hide the reaction behind her hippo.

“Are you laughing at me?” Alex teased gently, grinning.

Phoebe shook her head again, but Alex could see that the grin had reached her eyes now as they peered out over the top of the hippo, bright blue and sparkling with childlike innocence.

“Alright then, I give up. What’s his name?”

“Hugo.” The voice was tiny, but Alex did her best not to react with anything other than a smile, even as she held out one hand slowly. Phoebe flinched, but when she realised that all Alex wanted to do was shake the toy’s fluffy paw, she relaxed again.

“Hi, Hugo, nice to meet you. I’m Alex.”

Phoebe tugged Hugo away from Alex for a moment, then held his mouth up to her tiny ear, before giggling again. “He says hi.”

“Yeah?” Alex gently eased herself up onto the sofa so that she wasn’t crouching any more, all the time keeping her movements slow and deliberate so as not to alarm Phoebe. “What else does he say?”

Phoebe, who was starting to find her confidence more and more now that she realised Alex was okay and wasn’t going to harm her, raised Hugo to her ear again and pretended to listen. However, before she could say any more, a huge yawn escaped her lips, and Alex laughed.

“I think Hugo’s tired,” she suggested, keeping the emphasis on the toy so that Phoebe wouldn’t protest or withdraw back in on herself through too much attention, as some children were prone to do. Especially if they were shy and timid, as Phoebe seemed to be. “How about we go and tuck him into bed, and I’ll read him a bedtime story?”

Phoebe glanced across the room to where Maggie was watching quietly, her expression unreadable as she sipped at her beer. At Maggie’s nod, Phoebe turned back to Alex and nodded as well. Alex stood up and held out a hand, and after careful consideration, Phoebe took her hand, slid carefully from the sofa with some help, and then followed Alex over to the bed, where she scrambled up and again with help from Alex, shimmied and scrunched down under the covers, cuddling Hugo close to her.

“How’s that?” Alex asked as she pulled the duvet up and tucked it under Phoebe’s chin, then sat down gently on the edge of the bed.

“Squishy,” Phoebe nodded, snuggling down into the thick, soft pillow.

“Good. The best pillows are always the squishy ones,” Alex smiled. “So then, we were going to tell Hugo a story, weren’t we. What one should we tell him?”

“Can we sing him a song?” Phoebe asked quietly. “When I can’t sleep, Mommy sings me a song.”

“I…” Alex paused and glanced back across the room to Maggie, who shrugged apologetically, not really sure what to do. Alex sighed and turned back to Phoebe again, gently brushing a strand of hair away from Phoebe’s eyes. “Sure. We can do that. What song would you like?”

“A nice one.”

“A… nice one…?” Alex repeated, even as she racked her brains for any song that was suitable for a child. None were coming to mind. “Ok. Um… how about… oh, I’ve got one. Okay, but you’ve got to promise not to laugh if it sounds silly. Yeah? Because I’m not very good at singing, so you’ve got to pinky promise that you won’t laugh.”

She held out her pinky, and Phoebe looked at it curiously for a moment, not quite sure what to do. But she held out one of her own hands and Alex showed her how to entwine their pinky fingers together so that they could shake. 

“Okay,” Alex repeated after a moment, before clearing her throat, though already she could feel the blush creeping up over her cheeks again. She never usually sang in front of anyone unless she was drunk. Drunken karaoke, when she could deny all knowledge the next morning, or in the bathroom when she knew she was home alone and nobody was around to hear her sing. Those were the only two times Alex Danvers ever sang. But this little girl needed her now, and she wouldn’t let her down.

“ _ Oh when the red, red robin comes bob, bob bobbin' along, along. There'll be no more sobbin' when he starts throbbin', his own sweet song. Oh wake up, wake up, you sleepy head. Get up, get up, get out of bed. Cheer up, cheer up the sun is red. Live, love, laugh and be happy.”  _ She was stroking Phoebe’s hair gently as she sang quietly to her, and already she could see the young girl’s eyes drooping as the soft melody lulled her to sleep. But she didn’t stop. Not yet. 

She wanted to make sure that Phoebe was well and truly in the dream world of safety and happy thoughts before she left her.

_ “What if I've been blue. Now I'm walking through fields of flowers, rain may glisten, but still I listen for hours and hours. I'm just a kid again, doing what I did again, singin' a song. When the red, red robin comes bob, bob bobbin' along.” _

Phoebe had still been holding Alex’s pinky finger, but as sleep finally claimed her, her little hand dropped to rest on the bedsheet, and her breathing deepened. Then, and only then, did Alex stop singing. Though she carried on humming the tune for a moment longer, just to be safe. When she was absolutely convinced that Phoebe was well away, she stood up slowly and carefully, then crept quietly back across the apartment to the kitchen area, turning off the lights above the bed as she did so, and casting the bed into darkness, save for the tufts of Phoebe’s dirty blond hair, and Hugo the hippo’s bright blue hair that were illuminated by the glow of the lights from the rest of the apartment.

“That was beautiful,” Maggie spoke quietly as Alex grabbed up her beer and took a large gulp. “I never knew you could — ”

“I don’t make a habit of it,” Alex replied, matching Maggie’s tone so as not to wake Phoebe. 

There was a moment’s pause, before Maggie shrugged. “You should.” 

Alex sniffed, trying to act nonchalant as she went to the fridge and grabbed out another couple of beers, then motioned to the sofa. “Now she’s asleep, wanna tell me the whole story?”

“Oh. Sure.” Maggie followed Alex and sat down at one end of the sofa whilst Alex sat at the other, the distance obvious but going unspoken between them. They chose to leave the tv up at it’s current volume however because it would help to mask a lot of their words in case Phoebe woke up. This was a conversation she didn’t need to hear, after all. “Jeez, where to start.”

“How about how a science division detective ended up with witness protection?”

“Two things. One, not science division anymore, I’m working homicide. Thing two, not a detective.” Maggie pulled her badge out of her pocket and slapped it down on the coffee table. A shiny badge that said Sergeant Sawyer stared back.

Alex reached out and took up the badge, studying it. “Huh, looks like I’m not the only one who got promoted. Congratulations Sergeant Sawyer.”

“Yeah, thanks. It’s a hell of a lot more interesting when I’m not carting around preschoolers who saw their parents murdered.” Maggie took a sip of her beer and let out a sigh. “Seriously, how bad of a guy do you have to be to do that in front of a kid? That’s just…” She glanced to the side again, watching as Phoebe gently snored away on the bed. “That’s fucked up, Alex, that’s what that is.”

“Agreed. That monster is totally one hundred percent a… what was it you called him? A jerkface?” Alex couldn’t help but smirk just a tiny bit as she handed the badge back. “How many other words have you invented to cover up your swearing, recently?”

“Don’t give me a hard time. I just think WWSGD?”

“Hold on,” Alex thought about that for a moment. “What would Supergirl do?”

“Yup, then I open another notch on my belt, eat a box of doughnuts, and say fudgenuggets. Works like a charm.”

“That is scarily accurate,” Alex’s smile grew as she felt herself slipping more and more back into the familiarity of a time when the two of them were together. She could almost pretend, if she squinted very very hard, that she was sitting on the couch with her fiancée again, and not her ex. As soon as this thought crossed her mind, however, the smile vanished and she quickly gulped down some more beer to try and distract herself. When she set the bottle down, almost but not quite empty a moment later, she decided that it was probably better to just focus on business. “So, the guy who’s after you. Who is he?”

“Oh, yeah, yeah. Hold on.” Maggie pulled out her cell phone, unlocked it, and scrolled through her email, bringing up a file. She opened a document that included a picture of a square-jawed guy with a crew cut and a mean glint in his eyes. “This is our perp. Cain Johnson. Ex-Army, didn’t re-up, but he was being investigated for the deaths of some civilians when the member of his squad that had witnessed the whole thing committed suicide. That’s convenient and not fishy, right?”

“Very convenient and not at all fishy,” Alex wasn’t convinced in the slightest. “Sounds like a real gentleman.”

“Yeah, kind of guy that makes you glad to be a lesbian. Anyway, he got himself a job in the private sector working security. He’s a National City local that came back to the city recently. No idea what set him off, but he killed the Marshes. Phoebe was hiding in the closet and saw the whole thing through the slats, or to hear her tell it her hippo saw the bad man hurt mommy and daddy. She says she’s never seen him before. Neighbors heard a ruckus, some screaming, knocked on their door, didn’t get an answer, and called 911. We got a plate number from the bank security camera on the corner, but the only one that actually saw the guy do it was Phoebe.”

“And he wants to finish the job and cover his tracks,” Alex surmised as she downed the last of her beer, then shook the empty bottle a little at Maggie before standing. “I think I’m going to need some more of these before this night’s over. How about you?”

“I shouldn’t. I’m working. Raincheck?”

“Right,” Alex nodded. She sat down again and set the empty bottle to one side. “Okay, so for now you and Phoebe are safe. He’d have no reason to look for you here. What’s your next step? You want me to get the DEO involved? Brainy’s eccentric, to say the least, but he’s great at finding stuff that others can’t.”

“You mentioned Brainy before. Did Winn convince you that he needed better nicknames than nerd boy and sweater dude, or is this someone else?”

“Wow,” Alex breathed, her eyes going wide for a moment, before she shook her head. “It really has been a while, huh. Winn’s… kind of not in this century any more. And Brainy is… difficult to explain.” 

“From anyone else, I’d say that makes no sense, but from you,” Maggie shrugged, “sure. If your guy Brainy… Guy?”

“I’ve always presumed so, but to be honest I’m not actually sure. He’s a Coluan from the 31st Century. Ridiculously intelligent but seriously needs a mute button sometimes. The guy just doesn’t know when to shut up!”

“He doesn’t sound like the kind of guy I want knowing about Phoebe.”

“He’s… okay yeah he’s eccentric,” Alex agreed with a sigh. “But I trust him. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he doesn’t know about you or Phoebe. I’ll just ask him to find out as much as he can about our guy, and don’t ask questions. How about that?”

“Okay, just keep her being here between us. No-one can know about Phoebe. I trust you, but this little girl’s life is in my hands. No one can know we’re here. No one. Agreed?”

“Absolutely,” Alex nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ve kept Kara’s secret and never revealed it to anyone before now.” She paused, then rephrased. “Never  _ knowingly _ revealed it to anyone. That whole Maxwell Lord bug thing doesn’t count. My point is, if I can keep it a secret that my sister’s an alien, I’m sure I can keep you and Phoebe a secret too. Want me to pinky promise?” She held out a little finger and wiggled it.

Maggie grinned and reached out, intertwining her pinky with Alex’s and pulling them apart. “I’ve always found your digits to be especially trustworthy.”

Alex blushed furiously at that and jumped up quickly. “I’ll grab you a blanket and the other pillow from the bed. You can have the couch tonight. If that’s okay with you of course? I’ll get Brainy to look into our guy first thing tomorrow.”

Maggie glanced around the apartment. “You add a pull out bed I don’t know about? Where are you planning on sleeping?”

“The floor,” Alex shrugged. Darting lightly up the steps to the raised area where her wardrobe was set into the wall beside the bed, she very carefully extricated a couple of blankets, a rolled up yoga mat and then very carefully leaned over Phoebe’s sleeping form to take the other pillow. Tip toeing back down the steps again, she chucked the pillow and one of the blankets to Maggie, then moved to the only open area in the apartment in front of the kitchen island unit, unrolled the yoga mat and dropped the blanket onto it. “See. I’ll be fine. You still remember where everything is if you need anything, right?”

“You can’t sleep there, Danvers. No way is that going to be comfortable. I’ll just sleep uh,” Maggie looked around before settling on and walking over to a lightly padded chair with a stiff back. “Here, one of the perks of being small. I can sleep here.”

“Maggie, there’s a reason nobody ever sits in that chair,” Alex raised one eyebrow as she sat herself down on the yoga mat. “I’ll be fine. I’ve slept in much worse places than this when I’ve been on stakeouts. I mean, if I can sleep on the floor in the back of Winn’s nerd van, I can sleep anywhere.”

“Yeah but—” Failing to stifle a yawn, Maggie covered her mouth and nodded. “Okay, fine, but just for tonight. Tomorrow night, assuming this guy is still out there and you aren't fed up with my charming company, you get the couch. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” Alex nodded as she laid down and pulled the blanket over herself, well aware that she was still fully clothed but not finding it appropriate to change, given the present company. “Now go to sleep, Sawyer.”

Maggie pulled the blanket over herself and stretched out on the couch. “What, no bedtime story? Don’t I even get a song?”

“How about ‘once upon a time there was a Sergeant who, if she didn’t shut the hell up and go to sleep, was going to get the booted foot of a DEO Director somewhere very painful. The end'.”

“Now that’s my kind of fairy tail.” Maggie chuckled. “Goodnight, Danvers. Sweet dreams.”

“You too, Sawyer.”

Only a few seconds had passed, when Maggie said, “Alex?”

Alex groaned, prying her lids open. “Still no to the song. Go to sleep.”

“Not that, though we will revisit that at a later date. I just wanted to say thank you. Thanks for calling and opening your place up to us. If you hadn’t reached out, if you hadn’t given her a safe place to stay, I honestly don’t know what we would have done. You get this a lot in your job. We both do, but it feels different to me this time. Thank you. You’re literally a life saver. Thank you isn’t enough, but it’s all I have right now.” 

When Alex looked over, there we’re big brown eyes peering back at her from over the arm of the couch, and dimples peeked out from a weary smile. It was enough to make her heartbeat stutter.

“Anyway, that’s it. I wont bug you any more.”

Even as Maggie closed her eyes and laid down, her breathing turning heavy and deep seconds later, she didn’t keep her last promise. Her eyes, her voice, her memory stayed with Alex. Even when Alex closed her eyes, Maggie was still there. Dreams didn’t prove a respite. Just like with that damn phone number, Alex Danvers was haunted, but this time it was by a very real person in her living room and the very real feelings for this person she still harbored.


	4. Chapter 4

_ “What do you want? 'Cause you've been keeping me awake _

_ Are you here to distract me so I make a big mistake? _

_ Or are you someone out there who's a little bit like me? _

_ Who knows deep down I'm not where I'm meant to be?” _

  
  


The bacon was sizzling in the pan and the pancakes bubbling when Maggie stirred on the couch. Alex took this as her cue and poured a piping hot cup of coffee, stirred in a spoonful of honey, and added a dash of non-dairy creamer. She brought the cup over to the coffee table and offered a bleary eyed Maggie a smile to go with it.

“It looks like Phoebe isn’t the only one who was tired last night. The coffee is fresh, and pancakes and bacon will be ready soon.”

“Yeah, I -” Maggie stifled a yawn as she stretched out, pushing the blanket to her feet as she rose, “- haven’t gotten much sleep since I got the kid. One eye open and all that.” She took the coffee, smiling as she inhaled. Her smile grew when she took a sip. “You remembered how I like it.”

Alex ducked her head, but she couldn’t stop the smile that grew in return. “It hasn’t been that long.”

“Uh, pancakes and bacon? I appreciate the offer but—”

“Vegan pancakes and bacon. And yes that’s non-dairy creamer in your coffee. I snuck out to the store while you guys were still asleep, that little hipster place you used to like, and bought some of the tofu whatever bacon you ate, some margarine, non-dairy creamer, vegan ice cream, and some of that brown crap you used as an egg substitute. I still think it’s toxic sludge. Are you hoping it will irradiate you and give you superpowers?”

“Being vegan is a superpower,” Maggie said, but she smiled and looked away a bit too quickly, something odd coming over her face that Alex got just a glimpse of before it was turned away, and then Maggie was looking back again, her silly grin returned. “Are they the famous Danvers blueberry pancakes?”

“Oh, no.” Alex hurried back to the kitchen, flipping the first of the pancakes that had reached the peak of browning perfection on the bottom side. She pitched her voice to travel to the living room. “Kelly’s allergic to blueberries. I tried to kill her the first time I made her breakfast, so I don’t keep blueberries in the house anymore.” Alex’s smile immediately fell away when she looked over to see both Maggie and Phoebe staring at her. She mouthed, “Sorry.”

Phoebe had immediately returned to watching something animated on the TV, apparently no further traumatized by Alex’s offhanded comment. With her lopsided grin and deep dimples, Maggie slid to a stool on the other side of the counter that served as a divider between Alex’s living room and kitchen area. “How’s that foot taste, Danvers?”

“The pancakes will be better even without blueberries, I promise.”

Maggie chuckled. “I’m holding you to that. Hey, you think you can keep an eye on her for five minutes? I need to grab my go bag from my car. We hightailed it out of that apartment so quickly, I didn’t have a chance to grab anything besides our coats, but protocol is to keep a change in the trunk in case of emergencies.”

“Which this was.” Alex glanced over at Phoebe. “She’s been fine this morning, not hungry but fine. Go ahead.”

Maggie’s brows furrowed, but she nodded. “Much appreciate it. Hey Pheebs, I’ve got to grab our bag from my car. Alex here is going to stay with you. I’ll only be gone five minutes, okay?”

The little girl looked from one adult to the other, Alex offering a gentle smile, and then went back to her TV without a comment.

“Silence is acceptance. I’ll be right back.” Grabbing her boots and tugging them on with the laces still dangling, Maggie grabbed her keys and headed out, leaving Alex alone with the little girl. It was a harrowing five minutes of cartoons and pancake flipping in utter silence, but Maggie was true to her word. With a small duffle bag in her hand, she came strolling back in, tossing her keys on the counter like years hadn’t passed. “Miss me?”

“... yeah.” Alex swallowed hard and plated some pancakes, adding a few pieces of bacon. “Butter and syrup are in the fridge. Maybe you can get her to eat. She just stared at me. I couldn’t even entice the hippo, and you know those things are hungry, hungry.”

“Heh, good one. You got any Kara cereal?”

“Sugar frosted sugar bombs?” Alex gestured toward a cabinet with her head. “Yeah, they’re in a box marked diabetes. Why?” 

“Because your sister is a child.” Maggie dropped the bag on the floor in the living room and opened the cabinet Alex had mentioned to extract a box of cereal, though calling it cereal was a kindness. It was mainly marshmallows. As she poured some into a bowl she asked, “I assume the prize is already gone?”

“You didn’t see Supergirl sporting her new decoder ring? Now the bad guys will never stand a chance.”

Maggie had a full on chuckle going by the time she was pouring milk into the bowl. “Damn, I miss you guys. The Danvers sisters kept me young.” She added a spoon to the mix and brought it into the living room, snagging her coffee on the way. “Hey, Pheebs, look what I found.”

“Cereal?” The girl knee walked across the carpet to flop down in front of the food, her attention momentarily pulled away from the screen as she stared at the sugary goodness.

“Yup, 110% crap with no nutritional value, just the way you like it.”

“Mmmm, mellows.” Phoebe dug into the cereal, making a little bit of milk slosh over the side.

“For my little Marsh. Hey, easy there kid. Slow down. Hold on.” Maggie rose, heading over to the kitchen and returning with her own food and some paper towels. She rolled up one of Phoebe’s sleeves, grumbling. “Jeez, you already got it on your sleeve. You are the messiest eater.”

“Showwy.”

“It’s fine. It’s my fault for not rolling your sleeves up. It all comes out in the wash, right?”

“Right.” Phoebe picked her head up so Maggie could tuck a paper towel under her chin into the neck of the shirt she was wearing. “You want some juice? Alex has orange juice. I bet it’s the good stuff, none of that frozen crap.”

Phoebe just nodded around a mouthful of cereal, milk dribbling down her chin as her attention had mainly refocused on the TV again.

“This better be the good stuff, Danvers,” Maggie said as she pulled the pitcher of juice from the fridge. “Don’t make a liar out of me.”

“Freshly squeezed yesterday by Supergirl herself,” Alex smiled as she carried on tending to the breakfast.

“I can’t wait until that juicer hits the market.” Maggie put the juice back after pouring a glass and brought the beverage over to Phoebe. “Here you go, kiddo. Try not to spill, okay?”

“Okay.”

“How’s your cereal, good?”

“Good.”

“You sleep okay?”

“Hmmm.”

“Yeah, me too.” Maggie took another sip of her coffee, tossed a piece of tofu bacon into her mouth, and then rose and came back with the bag she had grabbed from the car. She dug through it, coming out with a brush and settled down behind the child, carefully pulling the hair ties from the tangled hair. Phoebe barely seemed to notice as Maggie began to gently brush the child’s hair, starting at the ends to deal with the tangled mess. “Tell me if I pull too hard, okay?”

“Mmmmm.” She just shoveled more cereal in her mouth, gaze affixed on the animated blue haired girl on screen and spindly legged egg creature that was with her.

Alex watched them both with a feeling she was entirely unaccustomed to. It was a mixture of part joy and part pain. There was a very definite tugging sensation in her heart, and had she not known any better she might have wondered if she was suffering from some kind of serious medical condition. As it was, she was enraptured, watching the woman she had once loved (and still did, if she was being brutally honest) acting so… so  _ naturally  _ around a child, despite her protests that she’d never seen herself as a mother figure. Had Alex perhaps been too hasty in her decision to go separate ways, then? Had she been afraid of the challenge of getting Maggie to change her mind, like she’d changed the detective’s mind on so many things before? Had she perhaps made a mistake? And was she… smelling something burning? 

Turning to the pan, she saw wisps of black seeping from beneath the latest pancake. “Shit!” She grabbed the pan off the heat quickly. “Goddamn it!”

“Danvers,” Maggie hissed, holding furious eye contact with Alex from across the room when Alex looked her way. Then she gestured at Phoebe with just her head. “Language.”

Alex winced and nodded. “Sorry. My bad.” She dumped the burned pancake into the trash then called back over, “How are you doing for food? Want any more?”

“Oh, nah, I’m good.” Maggie snagged another piece of bacon and then went back to brushing hair. “What about you, kiddo, you good?”

“Hmmm.”

“What about Hugo, is he hungry?”

Phoebe put down her spoon and turned to Maggie, giving her a look that was both patient and perhaps a touch annoyed. “Hugo is stuffed.”

Alex had made the mistake of taking a sip of her coffee just before this and very nearly ended up spitting it back out across the counter as she choked and tried her best to contain her laughter. She had to turn her back on them both for a moment as she furiously fought to control herself.

“You hurt yourself over there, chuckles? Trying to swallow a whole foot again?” Maggie asked.

Alex couldn’t even reply to that. Instead, she waited a few moments to make sure she was over her coughing fit, then beaming, she turned back to them as she stepped round the kitchen counter. “She’s awesome. I love her already.” Then she motioned to the bathroom. “Mind if I go get ready for work?”

“Me casa et su casa… or something like that,” Maggie said.

“Right,” Alex nodded, feeling a little sheepish at the reminder that she was in her own home. Darting up to the wardrobe beside her bed, she fished inside quickly and pulled out her combat uniform from where she’d hung it the evening before after her date with Kelly. Then she headed back down the steps to the bathroom, but not before spotting a bag that she’d left down by the front door. “Oh, before I forget, I grabbed you guys a few things when I was out this morning. I didn’t know you had an emergency bag, so I grabbed you both some clothes, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, that sort of thing. And there’s a set of pjs in there and a little something extra for Phoebe as well.” She shrugged. “I saw it and couldn’t resist.” Fetching the bag quickly, she passed it to Maggie on her way back towards the bathroom. “I, uh, I won’t be long in there. Then you and Phoebe can use it after me if you need to.”

That said, she headed into the bathroom, and after a quick shower and a freshen up, plus a few moments studying herself in the mirror as she brushed her teeth to make sure she looked somewhat decent after a night’s sleep on the floor, she headed back out into the living room again, pinning the longer strands of her hair back up on top of her head to keep it out of the way. All she had to do when she got to the DEO now was slip on her armour and she’d be ready to go.

With a long, slow whistle, Maggie appraised Alex, looking her up and down. “That doesn’t look like J’onn’s uniform, but then again, he never filled it out like that. Looking good, Danvers. Command suits you and so does the suit.”

“Thanks,” Alex blushed as she stood for a moment, feeling a little awkward and not really sure what to do. “It was a gift, from Winn. Got loads of hidden stuff that makes it very handy out in the field. Like, for instance…” she patted down the pockets at her thighs, then rooted around at her belt for a moment, before finding what she was looking for. Fingerless gloves. “Aha. Here.” She tossed one to Maggie for her to look at, even as she pulled the other on. “Electromagnets. Means if I ever lose my gun, I can Jedi it back to myself in an instant. The armoured parts of the suit also absorb a lot of shock and damage. Offers much more protection than those black polo shirts ever did, that’s for sure.”

“It also absorbs the female gaze.” Maggie winked and then patted the stuffed unicorn that was in Phoebe’s lap. The little girl was now changed into a clean pair of Frozen pyjamas, the ones she had been wearing that were sporting bits of cereal and sugar saturated milk now neatly folded and on the coffee table. “Thanks for the clean clothes and the stuffie. We’re still working on a name for him, her, him?”

Phoebe shrugged and sniffled, wiping her nose with the back of her hand as she stared at the TV.

“Maybe unicorns are enby. No judgments.” Maggie tossed Alex back her other glove. “How long do you think you’ll be gone? Are we by ourselves for the day?”

“Awww, missing me already?” Alex smirked as she pulled on her other glove, grabbed her jacket from the back of the chair where she’d chucked it the previous evening and shrugged it on, pulled her boots on and quickly did the laces then grabbed up her bike helmet. “I’ll message you in a couple of hours, let you know if I find anything, yeah? Besides, you’ve got my number now. Any problems, call me and I’ll come home sooner, unless it’s serious, then use this.” She pulled her Supergirl signal watch out of her pocket and handed it to Maggie.

“You sure?”

Alex patted her side. “My uniform has one. I want to make sure you and Phoebe are safe while I’m gone.”

Maggie’s gaze was locked on the watch for several moments, and when she lifted her head it looked like she was going to say something, but then she just smiled and shrugged. “Appreciate it. Hey, you mind if I put this on the kid? I’ll make sure she knows only to push it if she gets separated from me or if I’m, you know, unconscious.”

“Right, unconscious.” Alex nodded slowly, her gaze locked with Maggie’s. “I trust your judgment. You do whatever you need to to keep her safe, to keep both of you safe.”

Maggie just grinned, her head tilted to the side and her dimples deep enough to sink a finger into. “The kid and I will be home when you get here. It’s not like we can go anywhere. Be safe out there, Director.”

“Always am. See you later, Sergeant.” Alex tugged the front door closed behind her, paused for a moment to check she had grabbed her keys on the way out, then headed down to the parking lot where her faithful steed was waiting for her. A few minutes later, the jet black Ducati Monster was roaring up the street and towards the DEO building a few blocks away.

When Alex arrived at the DEO, everything was surprisingly calm. There were (for the moment) no major incidents or situations that required any urgent attention. Everything was ticking along just fine. Which was great, in some respects, but not so great for Alex, considering she was, thanks to her house guests, over half an hour late. She couldn’t just slip in during some chaos or pandemonium and act like she’d been there all along. Instead, as she stepped out of the elevator now, all eyes turned in her direction and she could already feel the color rising in her cheeks. 

Attempting to act casual as she strode across the main operations room, she eventually found herself having to say something. “As you were, Agents!” As all eyes turned back to their screens, tablets or paperwork, she spotted a familiar face and changed direction, walking over to him as he emerged from one of the side corridors. “Agent Dox, situation report.”

“Director, we remain on yellow alert following the arrest of the criminal known as Roach. Agents have been dispatched to track down and apprehend the associates you were able to extract from him during your superlative questioning. Outside of the usual noise of inter-alien disagreements near the docks, things are quiet, Ma’am.” 

“Good,” she nodded, looking around to see if any other agents were within earshot. Then she motioned for him to follow her a little further away from the rest of the agents in the control room, just to be sure. “Because I have another mission for you, but this one is on a need to know basis, and nobody else, except for you and I, need to know. You got that? It’s also a no questions mission, so you do as I say, and don’t ask questions. Can I count on you to do that, Agent Dox?”

“Secret mission, no questions asked,” Brainy said just a little too loudly, quieting as Alex hushed him and tugged him even further away. He managed to regulate his voice and speak in lower tones as he said, “You can count on me, Director.”

“Good. Because if word of this gets out to anyone, and I mean anyone, Brainy, including my sister… well I don’t think I need to spell out what will happen. Or do I?”

“No, I’m an excellent speller. I have access to all words in every language on Earth in the modern and archaic dictionaries and several non-terran languages also.”

“Good.” Alex repeated again. Putting her hand on the side of her head, she pulled, stretching the muscles in her neck.

“Are you alright, Director?”

“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine. That was a question. What did I say?”

Brainy nodded. “No questions.”

She waited for a moment just to make sure he wasn’t going to blurt anything else out that he shouldn’t, then took her phone from her pocket and pulled up the information on Maggie’s suspect that she’d shared with Alex last night. “I need to know everything you can find out about this guy. I want his entire life story, employment history, family, friends and associates, favorite color, first pet, what he ate for breakfast on Tuesday. Everything. And remember, not a word of this to anyone, and no questions.”

“I…” Brainy’s face twisted up into an odd expression, almost like painful constipation had set in, and he nodded. “Sprok.”

“Thank you Agent Dox. Let me know as soon as you’ve found anything.” She patted him on the shoulder, then turned and walked away to see what else needed her attention for the time being. 

“Hey, there you are.” Smiling brightly, her cape swishing as she walked, Supergirl approached her sister and stopped. Her hands rested on her hips in a fair approximation, one she’d been working on but not quite perfected yet, of Agent Alex Danvers herself. “Well, someone’s late for work. I guess you’ll have to write yourself up. What happened? Was it phone troubles again?”

Alex eyed her sister up and down, folding her arms across her chest as one eyebrow rose slowly. “What are you doing?”

“I’m… standing? I don’t know. What am I doing?”

Alex waved one hand up and down, motioning to her sister’s pose. “That. The hands on hips thing. What’s that all about?”

“I’m Supergirl.” She pushed up to her full height, sticking her shoulders forward and holding her head high. “This is just how I stand.”

“Uh huh. Okay,” Alex nodded, not convinced. “So how are the doughnut shops of National City faring this morning?”

“Morning patrol went well, thank you for asking.” Eyes narrowed, Supergirl stared at the pocket where Alex kept her phone. “Is it buzzing? I mean for you, is it buzzing?”

“Nope,” Alex smiled, patting her pouch on her belt, her smile only growing as she did so. “Whoever was fucking with me has finally got the hint and decided to leave well alone. It’s been silent since last night. Since my phone conversation with mom actually. Maybe they were telling me I was overdue a catchup with her? Maybe that was it?”

“Maybe but… Has anything else happened? I really think it could be that other thing. You know that other thing? That thing I mentioned? That thing with Clark? That thing I told you about? You remember that other thing, right?”

“I know what other thing you’re not very subtly trying to tell me about, Supergirl, and I can assure you it wasn’t that. Look, all I did when I went home yesterday was have a wonderful VR date with Kelly, have a conversation with mom about the usual stuff, made myself a burger, had a cold beer, and then went to bed. Then this morning I may have been a few minutes late, but that’s only because the line in the doughnut store was ridiculous.” Alex hoped her lie sounded convincing. With any luck, there was enough truth to it to make it believable.

“Alex, are you sure nothing else… doughnut shop?” Supergirl looked all around the main room of the DEO. “Did you get doughnuts? They're like gum, you know. You have to have enough to share.”

“Oh, I know that. I’m not an amateur,” Alex rolled her eyes. “That’s why I got two boxes. One for you and one for everyone else. I left them in the breakroom. Go get one if you want one.”

“You’re the best sister ever,” Supergirl whispered before planting a kiss on Alex’s cheek and superspeeding away toward the breakroom.

“You won’t be saying that in a few minutes,” Alex muttered to herself as she pulled out her phone to check in case Maggie might have tried to get hold of her. There was a text there, but it wasn’t from Maggie. It was from Kelly. Frowning, Alex opened the text quickly, wondering if something had happened.

_ Kelly: “Hey, is it ok if I call you quickly?” _

_ Alex: “Is everything ok?” _

_ Kelly: “Everything’s fine. It’s just a bit long winded to put in a message.” _

_ Alex: “Sure, give me 5 mins to find somewhere quiet. Don’t want the whole DEO listening to our conversation.” _

Alex rubbed the back of her neck, wincing slightly, then looked around. One of the conference rooms on the upper level was free, so she headed up there, making sure to shut the door firmly behind her. She sat at the table, set the phone on the desk in front of her and waited. A couple of minutes later, it rang, flashing up Kelly’s number, and Alex reached for the phone, drew in a sharp breath, then reached again more carefully this time.

“Hey you. What’s up?” She smiled as she sat back in the chair again, phone held to one ear. “Is this a general conversation, or is it private and confidential? Do I need to turn the cameras off in here? Because say the word and it’s done.”

_ “No, not that kind of conversation, but if I have to go away for work much more often, I’ll keep that in mind. Actually, I wanted to talk to you about tonight.” _

“Tonight?” Alex sat back on the table, wincing and shifting slightly as she stretched her back. “What about tonight. Wait, are you coming back early? Crap. I mean great!”

_ “Haha! Relax, though we will be discussing your first response. You know what Jung said about his word association test, right?” _

“Did he say I was sleeping on the couch?”

_ “Interesting response. Let me write that down.” _

As Kelly laughed again, Alex’s attention was drawn to Supergirl down in the main room. The hero looked left and right, up and down, her gaze obviously scanning the entire main room of the DEO for something with x-ray vision. Supergirl’s mouth was an angry line, shoulders pulled back and tight. It was clear she didn’t find what she wanted because she stomped away with enough force to make Alex shake in the room one storey up.

_ “Alex?” _

“I’m sorry, what?”

_ “Are you sure this isn’t a bad time? You seem distracted.” _

Alex pinched the bridge of her nose and pushed a smile onto her face so it would come through the phone line. “I slept funny. My neck is a bit stiff, and work is… Well, you know this place, but no, this is fine. The world is not currently ending, so work can wait. You’re my priority. What were we discussing?”

_ “Well, I’m glad to know we’re not mid-apocalypse. I wish that were a joke.” _

“Me too.”

_ “Okay, so malt scotch.” _

“I like where this is going. You now have my complete and undivided attention. Go on.”

_ “So, your girlfriend was able to pull some strings—” _

“My amazing and spectacular girlfriend?”

_ “Awww. You can take a raincheck on a kiss for that.” _

Supergirl came back into view in the main room down below. This time she thrust one hand out, accusing one of the agent’s of… Who knew what. Then she was checking his pockets, both sides of his hands, and flipping through the pieces of paper in a folder he was carrying. Apparently mollified, she walked away, but she looked back over her shoulder pointing two fingers at her own eyes, then at the agent then her own eyes again. The final warning for something had been issued.

_ “Anyway, I got the development team to push scotch development to the front of the line. They’re working on five basic mixes, and they said they’d have initial products ready for taste-testing tonight. So, want to be my guinea pig?” _

“For a scotch tasting date? Hell ye — uh, um… Wow, that sounds amazing Kelly but—”

_ “What’s wrong?” _

“Nothing, it’s just work. You know how work is. This place is crazy.”

_ “I’d give you a hard time about using that term, but I’ve been there. Bedlam has nothing on the DEO. Do you want to talk about it?” _

“No, it’s just… the usual.”

_ “The usual?” _

“You know it’s just… I have to… Supergirl is… and Brainy…” Alex took one more big breath in and then let it out with a heavy sigh. “You know what, tonight sounds great.”

_ “Alex, if you can’t _ _ —” _

“If I can’t now, when can I? This is my life, Kelly. If I have to say no to time with you now, when can I say yes?”

_ “If you’re sure.” _

Even as a bevy of DEO agents ran by below her with Supergirl hot on their trail, Alex just smiled and nodded. “I’ve never been surer. Look, I’ve got to go rescue some agents from an angry alien, but I’ll see you tonight. What time?”

_ “Seven o’clock?” _

“Perfect. I’ll see you then.”

_ “See you then. I love you.” _

“I love you too. Later.”

_ “Bye, sweetie.” _

As soon as she hung up, Alex was outside the conference room and glowering at the chaos below. “Supergirl! Here, now!”

On command, the hero took to the air for a moment and landed on the walkway outside the conference room. “Alex, we have an emergency situation.”

“Yeah, I can see that. What the hell is going on down there?”

“They’re gone.”

“They’re gone? They’re who?”

“The doughnuts. I went to the breakroom, and they were all gone. All two dozen doughnuts were missing, not even a crumb remaining, and the boxes were gone too.”

“Supergirl —”

“I checked the recycle and even the trash, in case the thief was eco-friendly, and they weren’t there.”

“Supergirl —”

“There were a half-dozen agents in the breakroom, and all of them swore that not only had they not seen anyone take them, they had never seen the doughnuts.” Supergirl looked left, right and behind her before leaning in close to Alex and whispering. “I smell conspiracy.”

“Supergirl,” placing a hand on either of her sister’s shoulders, Alex stared her in the eyes and said, “I think you’re the best person on Earth to investigate this travesty of justice. I trust you to act with prudence and integrity. You’ll have the full backing of the DEO on your mission. Good luck. Get your doughnuts.”

Jumping to attention, Supergirl snapped off a sloppy salute. “Aye, aye, Director!” Then she was off, chasing down her first suspect. “You, Danielson, where were you today between 9:27 AM and 9:32 AM?”

“What?”

“No alibi, huh? You’re going on my shortlist, buddy.”

“Well, that should keep her out of my hair for a few hours.” Alex rubbed her neck and stretched, then rolled her shoulders a little. A night on Kara’s couch followed by a night on the floor was really doing her no favors, but it was all for a good cause, so she wasn’t going to complain. 

Pulling her cell phone from her pouch when she got an email invite from Kelly for a VR date tonight, she also saw an alert from her bank which was alarming. “What the… Great, just what I need right now. I swear to God, if someone has fucked with my account, I’m loosing Brainy on them.”

Logging into her account showed unexpected results. The account total was very different than what she expected, but she wasn’t missing money. Instead, she had more money, a lot more money, than she expected. It had to be a banking error, but when she looked into it, she saw a deposit from that morning that had gone through. It was from a joint account she shared with her mother, one she never accessed or even thought about. It was all her mother’s money but with her name on it in case something happened and Alex needed to act on Eliza’s behalf. What was odd is that it normally didn’t have anywhere near that much money in it, but a large transfer had happened the previous night from an account Alex couldn’t see. Now this deserved a phone call.

So, for the second time in ten minutes, Alex found herself back in the conference room above the main room of the DEO. This time she was the one making the call. It rang three times before it was picked up on the other end.

_ “Is everything alright?” _

“Hi, Mom, nice to hear your voice too.”

_ “Fine. It’s lovely to hear your voice, Alex. Now, tell me you and your sister are alright. You never call me in the middle of the day.” _

“We’re both fine. I’m at work on a fairly normal day, and Kara is trying to solve the case of the missing doughnuts.”

_ “Has she looked in her stomach?” _

“Oooh, maybe you should be a detective. So, Detective Danvers, maybe you can help me solve the case of the unexpected deposit into my checking account.”

_ “Oh good. That cleared?” _

“Mom, what the hell? Where did you get that money? Did you sell a kidney? Did you steal a kidney? Did you steal someone’s kidney and sell it?”

Eliza chuckled.  _ “I thought Kara was the dramatic one.” _

“Just answer the question.”

_ “No to all of those. That’s your money, Alex.” _

“No, it’s not. I don’t even know where you got it. Just tell me it was on the up and up.”

_ “Alex… Okay, two years after your father went missing, he was declared legally dead. His life insurance policy paid off. I put the money away for you and Kara. We had enough money from my work. We weren’t rich, but we had enough, and I knew one day you’d be ready to settle down and start a family. That’s when I wanted to give you the money. That’s now.” _

“Jesus. That was Dad’s… Mom, I can’t —”

_ “Alex, it’s what your father would have wanted. He was far from perfect, we both know that, but let him do this for you. Let him help with your family.” _

“Crap.” Alex swallowed hard as she nodded, but no other words came out.

_ “Are you alright?” _

“I’m at work. I can’t do this at work.”

_ “You called me.” _

“I know! I called to get mad at you not… this!” Alex sniffed, taking a moment to compose herself. “Sorry, I’m sorry. I just can’t have my agents see me crying.”

_ “Are you worried they’ll find out that you’re human?” _

“No, sniff, crying is Kara’s job. I’m worried they’ll think I’m a Kryptonian.” Alex wiped away at tears with her thumb. “Mom, thanks for this. I don’t really know what else to say. This is unexpected and life altering. Thank you.”

_ “Sometimes what we asked for and what we needed are not the same thing. You father and I had plans for one child, and I know that you didn’t want Kara for a sister when she arrived, but the universe had other plans. Sometimes it’s a very smart universe, and we just need to learn to listen.” _ After several seconds of silence, Eliza said,  _ “Alex, did I lose you?” _

“No, I’m still here, Mom. I was just… Do you believe in fate?”

_ “I’m a scientist. I don’t know thatI believe in fate, but I’m certain there’s far more that I don’t know than that I do know. So does that mean there are things in the universe that we call fate that can be explained by science? Sure. Does that answer your question?” _

“Actually, yeah, it does. Thanks, Mom. Hey, I’ve got a lot going on right now, but when things quiet down, maybe Kara and I can fly down for a Danvers weekend. What do you say?”

_ “I say that sounds lovely. I’ll make my home cooked lasagne and chocolate pecan pie.” _

“Shhhh.” Alex covered her phone, looking down to where Supergirl had stopped in the middle of looking through an agent’s desk, frozen with head held high as if scenting the air, then went back to investigating after a few seconds. “Not so loud. She’ll sense a disturbance in the force.”

_ “You two are ridiculous, and I love and miss you both. Fly here any time you want. It can’t be too soon for me.” _

“Love you and miss you too, Mom. I’ll be in touch soon.” Alex headed down to where Supergirl had one of the agents pressed up against the wall and was going through his pants pockets. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Cargo pockets are the perfect size for doughnuts smuggling,” Supergirl replied without looking up. “Hmm, okay, you’re clean, Demos. You can go, but I’m keeping an eye on you.” 

“Okay, this has been fun,” Alex said, “but I think it’s getting kind of out of hand.”

“I agree. I thought I found a trail of chocolate sprinkles, but it turns out we have an ant infestation.”

“What? Where?”

“Then I thought I found powdered sugar in one of the bathrooms.” Supergirl shrugged. “Turns out it was just cocaine.”

“What!?”

“Director,” Brainy whispered, inches from Alex’s ear, startling her. “I have successfully completed the mission you gave me. We should find an area without prying ears to discuss the details of my findings.”

“Yeah, yeah, but first I need to —” Alex looked left and right, but Supergirl was nowhere to be seen. “Fuck. Fine. Tell me what you found. Hold on though, Whitby, I need you to do something.” Alex had a brief conversation with the other agent, and when he walked away, she turned back to Brainy. “Conference room.”

In the conference room, Brainy opened files on his tablet as he said, “ Your person of interest,  Cain Johnson, has an interesting ex-military record. It was sealed, but you said you wanted answers so…” He looked over at Alex.

Alex sat down in one of the chairs and motioned for him to take a seat in another. Then she nodded. “If you did something illegal to unlock those files I’m…” She paused, then shook her head. “Going to turn a blind eye to it.  _ This time _ . Go on.” She made a motion with one hand for him to continue.

“It seems Mr. Johnson has an uncle who is a colonel in the U.S. Army. He was able to pull some strings, based on the email trails I found, and have these records locked. They showed there was an incident on Mr. Johnson’s last mission. Over a dozen civilians were killed. One of the soldiers in the unit filed a report stating that then Sergeant Johnson and others were aware that the civilians were there and chose to attack in a way which purposefully endangered those civilians and led to their deaths. They were referred to as “acceptable losses” and more colorful ethnic slurs. According to the complaint filed, their deaths were discussed in detail over drinks… with laughter.”

Alex rubbed her eyes with the thumb and forefinger of one hand. “And let me guess, the soldier who filed the complaint commited suicide before it could ever go to trial?”

Brainy looked up from his tablet, blinking. “Did you already read this file?”

Realising her mistake, Alex had to think quickly on her feet. “That was a question, Brainy. What did I say about questions? But in answer to your question that shouldn’t have been asked, no, his file was sealed, remember? It's just the sort of thing that happens. Nasty pieces of work like this bastard tend to get away with things by taking out the competition, so to speak. In this case the soldier who was going to sink his career. But he was clever enough to make it look like an accident. Or suicide. Either way, he never went to court over it, so it worked. Right?”

“Correct, Director. The other soldier died by suicide, according to the medical record. I found the autopsy results to be substandard, and the body has been cremated, so exhuming will not be possible. At any rate, the other members of the squad all were given honorable discharges after the incident. Their files were sealed, and Mr. Johnson now works as private security for Lord Technologies here in National City.”

“Ugh, of course, he does,” Alex groaned in disgust, pinching the bridge of her nose as she squinted her eyes shut. “Yep, now I hate the guy even more.” After waiting for a moment to go over everything that she’d learned so far, Alex still couldn’t see any motive for this Cain Johnson killing Phoebe’s parents or going after the little girl herself. There must be something more. Something she was missing. “Anything else, Brainy?”

“There is one more thing, Director. It seems Mr. Johnson is the lead suspect in the shooting homicides of Denise and Gregory Marsh. Their daughter, Phoebe Marsh who is four, was the only witness and is in police custody, though I have no further information on her location at this time. Now, I hope I am using this phrase properly. I believe your sister would call this ‘burying the lead’.” Brainy swiped the screen to move to another page and laid the tablet on the table. When Alex reached for it with a grimace, he nudged it closer to her. “Pay special attention to Mr. Johnson’s dates of service, cross-referenced leave dates, and personal contacts and see if you come to the same conclusion I have.”   
  


Alex studied the information carefully for a moment, then backtracked and checked them again. “I’m not seeing anything, Brainy. He served for five years then left after that whole incident that got his record sealed. Came back to National City and got a job with the rich jerk. Nothing’s standing out?”

“If I may, Director.” Brainy took back the tablet and highlighted several pieces of text. “I understand it must be challenging for a human of average intellect to follow even the most basic of pathways that I create. Let me break this down to just a few base words.” 

“Tired and grumpy human of ‘average intellect’ who writes your performance reviews and assigns toilet duty weekly,” She corrected him with a stern glare.

He glanced up from the tablet. “Yes, that is an accurate description of you, Director. Now, look here. You’ll see under Mr. Johnson’s contacts, Miss Denise Allen is listed. If you were to cross-reference that name with the files of everyone else named in this report, you’ll see that Allen is the maiden name of Mrs. Marsh. Also, Mr. Johnson was on leave and in National City forty weeks and four days prior to the birth of Phoebe Marsh. There is also an adoption certificate for Phoebe Allen changing her last name from Allen to Marsh as Mr. Marsh is not her birth father. Would you like me to continue, Director, or are you able to surmise a possible premise based on this evidence?”

“You’re shitting me?!” Alex reached for the tablet again, then winced and sat back in her seat, motioning for him to hand it over instead. “Let me see.”

“Of course. Here you are, DIrector,” he said as he handed it over. “I asked you a question. I apologize for upsetting you like that, Director.”

Alex didn’t hear him. She was too busy looking back over the dates again, now that she knew what to look for. “Well… fuck. This explains a lot.” She set the tablet back on the table then raised her hands, interlocked her fingers and placed them behind her neck, even as she stood up and started to pace back and forth instead. “This could change everything.” She stopped and her hands fell back to her sides, but only momentarily before she pointed at the tablet. “You’re absolutely, a hundred percent sure nobody else knows about this?”

“The police have access to the same police reports, and there are some in the military that have seen his sealed file. His employer must know where he works—”

“Alright, I get the picture. People know bits of it. Hopefully nobody else has pieced together the whole picture like we have, though. And you say nobody knows where the child is now, other than in police custody?”

“Someone must know, but I do not… currently. I could—”

“No!” She said sharply. Then realising that she needed to be very careful not to give anything away, she forced her tone to become more casual. “No, let’s not do that. The less people who know where that child is right now, the safer she’ll be. Let’s focus on Mr. Johnson. Brainy, I want you to use our facial recognition software to pinpoint his location. Track him, but do not make any moves until I say so. Just keep me regularly updated on his location. And again, nobody is to know about this. Judging by his records, he’s a very dangerous man. I don’t want anyone else getting hurt because of him. Is that clear?”

“Of course, Director. I understand. As soon as he’s located. I’ll contact you directly. Also, the color is ochre, he had an iguana named Kevin when he was seven, and according to receipts from Mel’s Diner, breakfast was a sausage and egg bagel with cheese with home fries.”

“Wh-What the fuck does that mean?”

“You said to find out Mr. Johnson’s favorite color, his childhood pet, and what he had for breakfast on Tuesday. The last two were a bit easier, but the first took building an algorithm that compared the color palette of his—”

Alex held up a hand, stopping any further explanation. “I’m sorry I asked… a lot. Thank you, Brainy, for this information. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and sort out some kind of doughnutastrophe that’s going on out there before Supergirl has every single agent thrown in a cell for a crime they didn’t commit.” She headed for the door, but stopped in the doorway and turned back to him. “Remember, Agent Dox. Not a word to anyone. This is important.” That said, she left the room and headed back to the main area, just in time to see Supergirl accosting Vasquez.

“Supergirl!” Alex called out. “That’s enough. You’ve had your fun, but playtime’s over.”

“There’s nothing fun about this, Alex. I still haven't found the culprit.”

Before Alex could reply, Agent Whitby stepped out of the elevator holding two large white cardboard boxes. He walked over to her. “Ma’am, where do you want me to put these?”

Supergirl gasped. “Thief! Alex, arrest him!”

“Supergirl he’s not a… oh, you know what?” Alex rubbed her temple, shaking her head. “Whitby, just go put yourself in a holding cell.”

“Um…” Snagging a doughnut from the box, he handed the rest over to Supergirl. “Can I take my phone, Ma’am?”

“Sure, do whatever,” she waved a hand dismissively then sighed. It was only 10:15, and it was already a long, fucking day.

<><>

Alex came home that evening to the sound of a child’s laughter and the smell of food cooking in the oven. It made her freeze on the spot with the door open. It was like her key had let her into someone else’s apartment, an apartment that looked a lot like hers but was in some very important ways not. Her mind flashed back to the conversation she’d had last night with Maggie about Earth 1 Alex, about other versions of themselves, and how life could have been different if she had chosen a different path. Then Maggie spoke in an odd sing-songy voice, and she was snapped back into her own reality.

“‘You can’t be the bus. You’re a dog,’ Monkey said.” Maggie sat with Phoebe on her lap, a child’s book which must have come from the go bag in her hands because Alex had never seen it before, and she was reading to the child. Phoebe looked relaxed, finally, a real smile on her face as she laughed and hurriedly turned the page, unwilling to wait for Maggie to do it. “‘I’m the bus and the dog,’ said Dog. ‘Climb on up, and I’ll take you to your first day of kindergarten, Monkey. Mind Turtle. He doesn’t snap, but his shell is slippery. There’s plenty of room by my tail. Oh, don’t sit on Mouse.’”

“Mouse will get squished.” Phoebe mashed her hand to her own face and squealed. 

“Yup, then it will be mouse pancakes for dinner.”

“You won’t eat those, right, Maggie? You only eat vegetables.”

“Right kiddo.”

“I wanna be a vegetable only eater too. I don’t wanna eat mouses.”

Not wanting to disturb such a touching and surprising scene, Alex slipped inside quietly, closing the door gently and then moving a little further into the apartment. She hoped to be able to catch Maggie’s eye without interrupting the flow of the story or the conversation the pair of them were having about said story. 

“‘Everyone hold on tight. Here we go, said Dog. ‘Vroom. Vroom.’” Maggie winked as Alex crossed into her field of vision. “Hey, Pheebs, Alex is home.”

“Oh, hey.”

“Can we try that again? It’s ‘Hello, Alex.’”

“Hello, Alex.”

“Hey Phoebe, Had a good day?”

“Yes.”

“Ahem,” Maggie cleared her throat gently.

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Better. Here, we’ll finish the book after dinner. It should be pretty much done.” Maggie handed the book off to Phoebe and lifted the child from her lap, putting Phoebe down on the couch next to her. “I’m going to set the table.”

“Can I watch TV?”

“Just until food is ready.” Maggie handed the girl the remote control and then headed toward the kitchen, speaking to Alex on the way. “I hope you don’t mind, but I ransacked your kitchen since I couldn’t leave. Dinner should be ready in ten.”

“What we having?” Alex grinned as she lifted one booted foot and rested it on the arm of her chair so she could undo the laces. Then kicking the boot off, she started on the other, kicked that off as well, then shrugged out of her jacket and put both away in their place beside the door.

“Just pasta and sauce for me, but I added a healthy, or not so healthy in my opinion, amount of cheese to some and baked it in the oven for you and the kid. You had a loaf of french bread, so I used some of the margarine you brought and made garlic bread. One half has cheese. I figured that would be enough since your sister won’t be dropping in. How was work?”

“Interesting,” Alex smirked. “We caught a doughnut thief who wasn’t really a doughnut thief but who put himself in holding anyway to keep Supergirl quiet, and I figured out my sister can’t tell the difference between cocaine and drywall dust.”

“What?”

“It’s a long story, but I did find out some important things. Let me go and get changed out of this thing,” she motioned to her combat suit, “and then I can tell you what Brainy and I found out.”

“Take your time. Go wash the stink of government servant off of you while I put out the dishes. You want wine or beer with dinner?”

“Beer I think.” Alex paused and considered. “Yeah, definitely a beer. I’ll be back in a moment.” Making her way to her wardrobe, she grabbed out a fresh flannel shirt and a pair of dark jeans then slipped into the bathroom. A quick shower and change of clothes later and she came back out, her combat suit folded under one arm and stored quickly in her closet.

Walking back past Phoebe who was engrossed in the TV again, Alex crossed to the kitchen where Maggie was, then lowered her voice. “So, you want the good news or the bad news?”

“Ugh, my bad news quota is full up, Danvers.” Maggie pulled the baked ziti out of the oven and closed it a bit forcefully. “Sorry. You’re just helping. My mood is crap over this case. Start me out with the good news, okay? I could use a touch of hope before it’s all dashed to the ground again.”

Alex leaned against the kitchen counter. “Well the good news is that if you ever want any first class entertainment, it’s amazing how long you can keep a Kryptonian occupied when you send her on a chase for non-existent doughnuts. You should have been there Maggie. It was almost impossible to keep a straight face and keep the ruse going.”

“From my recollection, it’s impossible for you to keep any of your body parts straight.” Maggie flashed her dimples. “I do miss messing with your sister though. Do you remember the time we went to the park and told her we had just seen the cutest dog ever take off over the hill? On the pros side, we got to make out for fifteen uninterrupted minutes. On the cons side, we had to look at pictures of seventeen different dogs to judge the ‘cutest dog ever’ contest based on the ones she’d encountered during those fifteen minutes.”

Alex couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh, that was brilliant. Why had we never thought of that before? To be fair, she did find some really cute dogs though. You remember that rottweiler? And the dalmatian. Although that whippet was cute too. Kara was adamant that he was nearly as fast as she was.”

“She’s one of a kind… literally. Okay, hit me with the bad news.”

“Well, Brainy managed to find our guy’s restricted military file and… well… he sort of sneaked a peak behind the restrictions. Turns out this-” She glanced over at Phoebe, then dropped her voice even lower, “-son of a bitch is one mean fucker. History of violence, both in and out of the military, rap sheet as long as my arm and… ugh this is the most fucked up bit of it all.” She rubbed the back of her neck, not really sure where to start. “You know that your vic, Mr. Marsh isn’t her biological father, right?”

“Yeah? He met the bio mom when Phoebe was a baby. They fell in love, got married, and he adopted her. He was the dad in every way that mattered, the only father she ever knew. So what?”

“So what if I was to say guess who’s odds-on favorite in the “who’s the daddy?” sweepstake? I’ll give you a clue. He was the one who shot up your safehouse.”

“No way. No way is that—” Maggie glanced over the breakfast bar and continued in ever a more hushed tone. “—fucker her father. He tried to kill her. Even my father isn’t that much of an asshole.”

Alex just shrugged. “All I know is, when Brainy was running through his files, Denise Marsh and Denise Allen cropped up more than once. After realising the two were one and the same, I figured she had to be Phoebe’s mom, so I had him cross check and then triple check the dates of when they were supposedly together. Sure enough nine months later when he was off on tour in Iraq, little Pheebs came along. Don’t worry, I didn’t tell Brainy why I wanted him to triple check the dates, but he’s under very strict tell no-one and ask no questions instructions. He knows what will happen if he breaks either.”

“Fuck,” Maggie mumbled. “Just get a vasectomy if you don’t want kids. It’s a little late for it now.” Maggie sighed heavily, leaning back on the counter. The weight of the last week wore heavily on her face. “She can’t know this, Danvers. We can’t tell her. She’s just a kid. She won’t even understand. I don’t even understand.”

Alex slipped round the counter so that she was standing beside Maggie and could watch Phoebe for a moment. Leaning close to Maggie, she nodded. “Agreed. She doesn’t need to know. All of this is going to be hard enough for her as it is. She doesn’t need that on top of it all. So let’s just catch the bastard and end this quickly, so that she can try to get back to some sort of a normal life. Whatever normal is, these days.”

“I have no idea what that will look like for her. Her mom was an only child whose parents had already passed away. Dad, real dad not douche with a gun, came from the foster system and has no family. We’re gonna be in second or third cousin land trying to find someone to take her in once she’s safe.” The oven beeped, and Maggie moved toward it. “Bread is ready. Hey, Pheebs, go wash up! Food is ready!”

Hopping off the couch, Phoebe disappeared into the bathroom but came back moments later. She glanced over at Maggie, who was busily putting things out for dinner, then took a step closer to Alex. “I can’t get water.”

Alex crouched down so she was on the same eye level and didn’t tower over the little girl, then smiled gently. “What’s wrong Sweetie? Can’t you reach? Or is the faucet too stiff?”

“It’s too far away. Help? Please?”

“Sure. Come on, let’s go get those hands washed, shall we?” Alex stood back up and offered her hand to Phoebe.

Without hesitation, Phoebe took Alex’s hand and allowed herself to be led to the bathroom. Alex rolled the little girl’s pyjama sleeves up, turned on the water, pulled the hand soap dispenser closer, and picked Phoebe up. She let Phoebe sit on her bent knee as she checked the water temperature.

“That feels about right. You need any more help?”

“We need to sing.”

“Sing?” Alex raised an eyebrow. “What do we need to sing?”

“We need to sing the birthday song twice. Mommy says—” Phoebe’s voice cut off, and Alex could see a frown on her face in the mirror.

“It’s ok, Sweetie. We can sing the birthday song twice if that’s what you normally do. But you’ll have to remind me how it goes. Can you help me with the words?” Alex reassured her, trying to stay as light and positive as possible, for Phoebe’s sake.

Phoebe nodded, wetting her hands and then pushing the hand pump to release soap onto her waiting hand. As she rubbed her hands together, she began to sing, “Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Phoebe, happy birthday to you.”

“Oh, that birthday song,” Alex grinned. “Well that’s once. So we have to sing it again?”

Phoebe nodded, squishing her fingers together as soap bubbles popped out.

“Hey, you know what’s really fun? Making bubbles with washing up liquid. Maybe after dinner I can show you, huh? But for now, how did that song go again? Was it… happy birthday to you, squashed tomatoes and stew?”

“Noooo,” Phoebe giggled. “You’re singing it wrong.”

“D’oh, silly me,” Alex face palmed. “Alright, I got it this time. Ready? Happy birthday to you. You live in a zoo. You look like a monkey, and you act like one too.”

Phoebe snorted. “A monkey. Aleeeex. No!”

“No?” Alex feigned confusion. “But I thought that’s how it went? Okay alright, I give up. You’ll have to remind me again.”

“Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Alex monkey stew poopy pants!” Phoebe burst out in laughter, leaning forward and slapping both of her hands into the small pool of water that had collected and not yet drained out of the sink.

“Whoa. What exactly is going on in here?” 

Alex glanced over to see Maggie watching them from the doorway, a kitchen towel thrown over one shoulder and her dimples on full display. “You making trouble again, Danvers?”

“Moi?” Alex laughed as she helped Phoebe down from her knee then reached for a towel so she could dry her hands. “Nah, Phoebe was just teaching me how to wash my hands properly. You have to sing the birthday song twice, you know.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure those aren’t the words to the birthday song.” Maggie came alongside them and helped Phoebe, who was still playing with the water, to actually rinse her hands. Then she used the towel she had with her to help the girl dry up before hoisting Phoebe onto a hip. “Okay, come on, kiddo. Let’s get some dinner into you before Danvers here can teach you any more silly songs.”

Phoebe rested her head on Maggie’s shoulder and smiled at Alex as she said, “It was really silly.”

“The best ones always are,” Alex chuckled as she winked at Phoebe then washed and dried her own hands quickly and followed them out to the dining table where Maggie had set everything out for dinner.

“Up you go,” Maggie said as she helped Phoebe into a chair and pushed it in. Then she scooped some food into a bowl for the girl. “It’s hot, so be careful. Eat your bread. I cut it up for you. I got you some milk too. You need anything else?”

She shook her head. “Thank you.”

Maggie dropped a kiss onto the top of her head before making her way to her own chair. “You’re welcome, sweetie. You can get your own plate, Danvers. I assume you still know how to feed yourself.”

“Awww, you mean you aren’t going to help me?” Alex mock pouted as she sat down, pulled a plate towards herself and dished a few spoonfuls onto her own plate. “Spoilsport.” As she took a couple of bits of bread as well, she smirked. “I guess this means I’m on dish duty afterwards?”

“That’s always the deal right?” Maggie grinned, but the smile slid off her face. “I mean… You know what I mean.”

“Careful, Sawyer. Anyone would think you were getting domestic,” Alex replied, trying to lighten the mood again. She knew exactly what Maggie had meant, but that was in the past, and there was no point dwelling on the past now. What’s done is done, and Alex could only see a path forward. Or at least that’s what she told herself.

“Better domestic than domesticated. How’s your food, kiddo?” 

“Mmm.”

“That’s good. So, Danvers, how’s your sister doing? I follow her job, both of them, but how’s her life?”

“Oh yeah, she’s fine,” Alex nodded as she picked up a piece of homemade garlic bread. “You know, writing articles, eating doughnuts, acting like the office hero and all that.”

“Nice kid but a bit of a god complex if you ask me.” Maggie waggled her eyebrows at Alex and grinned. “How’s your mom doing? Work going well for her?”

“Yeah, she recently applied for this grant on skin grafting. It’s still too early to tell if she’ll be given it, but the research behind it is fascinating, and it could be life changing if she gets what she needs. Literally cutting edge technology.”

“Hey, that’s awesome. I’m sure it will come through for her. Tell Mama Danvers congrats for me, okay? She’s a good one. You lucked out.”

“Yeah, I could have drawn the short straw. She still gives me a really hard time though. Like  **all** the time. Kara can do no wrong, yet I can do no right.” Alex shrugged, then stuffed some bread into her mouth, mainly to stop herself from blurting anything else out that she shouldn’t. At least not in front of Phoebe.

“You got a rough little sister to live up to but again, she’s a good one. Some people get all the breaks.” Maggie pulled the folded paper towel from the table and put it in Phoebe’s lap. “Sweetie, keep this over your pants. We’ve got to keep them clean, okay?”

“Sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong. I should have reminded you.” Maggie leaned forward a bit, smiling when she caught the girl’s eye. “Hey, maybe we can help each other remember, alright? Teamwork is what?”

“Dreamwork,” Phoebe said.

“Alright, team short guys.” Maggie held out her fist for Phoebe to bump. “Anyway, glad everything is going well with the family and at work, Danvers. It sounds like you’re living the dream. I’m glad it all worked out for you.”

“It hasn’t been plain sailing. There’s been plenty of rogue waves and storms to navigate, but for the moment at least, all is calm. How about you?”

“Work keeps me busy. I went out to Gotham for a bit, as you know. Man, I thought National City was a mess. That place is fifteen pounds of S.H.I.T. in a five pound bag. I met a hot girl there. Redhead, black leather, motorcycle, fights for justice.” Maggie shrugged. “I got a type. It’s been fun, but long distance isn’t working out, and I honestly don’t think she was ever over her ex. I don’t want to be anyone’s second choice.”

“I’m sorry,” Alex spoke down to her plate of pasta, deliberately not making eye contact because she was afraid of how awkward it would be. But she couldn’t resist a smirk as she added, “for what it’s worth, you have great taste.”

Maggie chuckled and mumbled, “Jerk.” Then she shrugged and said. “The Kate things is fine. Who wants to date a gorgeous billionaire anyway? What a hassle. Beautiful woman, anything money could buy, and she’s smart and really moral too. Ugh! Am I right?”

“That’s Kara’s area of expertise, not mine,” Alex mumbled around a mouthful of pasta. Then swallowing the mouthful she turned to Phoebe and said in a louder, more normal voice, “So Pheebs, what was that story that Maggie was reading you earlier? Sounded really cool. A dog that’s a bus?”

“It’s silly.” She smiled over at Maggie. “Monkey’s First Day at School. I go to school soon.” An odd look crossed her face. “Do I still go to school Maggie?”

“Of course, you do, sweetie. We’ll make that happen.”

“Will you take me to school so I’ll be safe?”

“I…” Maggie’s eyes widened, and she looked over to Alex, panic clearly on her face before it was buried under a smile that didn’t touch her eyes. “I promise to make sure that you’re safe at school. Team short guy.” She held out her fist again.

“Team short guy.” Phoebe bumped her fist against Maggie’s. 

“Now, tell Alex about your book.”

“Okay. It’s about a monkey who goes to school. The bus is a dog, and Monkey meets a turtle who is pokey and they get to be best friends even though Monkey is fast and a good climber. Different people can be the best friends, and school is for friends.”

“That’s right, it is,” Alex nodded, listening intently as Phoebe explained about the book. “Anyone can be friends. Doesn’t matter how different they are. Being different isn’t a bad thing.” She glanced across at Maggie briefly, before she turned her attention back on Phoebe again. “So Monkey and Turtle are friends, huh? If Monkey is fast and good at climbing, what can Turtle do?”

Phoebe grabbed her shirt collar and pulled it up over her ears. It hung down in the front so her eyes barely showed. “Turtle is the best hider. Turtle is also a really good reader and helps Monkey with his ABCs.”

“I helped Danvers here with her LGBTQs when we met, right Danvers?” Maggie grinned.

Alex very nearly repeated her earlier mistake of having a drink at the wrong moment. As it was she caught herself just in time, setting her bottle of beer down a little too quickly as she stared at Maggie in shock. Then, very slowly a smile began to work it’s way across her lips and up, not stopping, even when it reached her eyes. “Yeah, you did. I’ll give you that one, Sawyer.”

“I know those letters,” Phoebe chimed in. “Do you need help with your alphabet, Alex?”

“I did, Little One,” Alex bit her lip, even as her cheeks flushed bright red. “But, uh, Maggie helped me out. She’s a really good teacher.”

“Thanks for the letter of reference.” Maggie winked, only leading Alex’s blush to deepen.

Thankfully, the conversation changed then. The heavy undertones of things left unsaid and undone were dropped, and the conversation focused on cartoons and the new stuffed unicorn that Alex had gotten for Phoebe. The little girl named it Gigi. It seemed like a pretty normal name to Alex, but when Maggie said the unicorn must be a drama queen, Phoebe giggled and agreed. The discussion went to Gigi’s fanbase and spin class. It was clear there was more going on here, and Alex was again struck that Maggie and Phoebe had formed a relationship in their short time together. It was something organic and comfortable, and to Alex it was enviable. What hurt the most was that she wasn’t sure if she wanted something like that or exactly that.

“Okay, tubby time,” Maggie said when the food was done. “Phoebe, go pick out a book from my bag and put it on the bed for storytime after your bath.”

Phoebe held up her whole hand without hesitation. “Five books.”

Maggie placed her hands on her hips and stared down at the little girl who stared back up with equal intensity. “That’s not how this works. What did we say about negotiation?”

Phoebe frowned for a moment then, with her thumb folded down, held her hand up again. “Four books.”

“Much better but no. Two books.”

Phoebe’s tongue stuck out of her mouth as she counted her fingers and then held her hand up again. “Three books.”

“Hmmm.” Maggie looked over to Alex who was watching the goings on with more than idle curiosity. “What do you say, Danvers, has the kid earned three books?”

“Oh I’d say so,” Alex nodded with a grin. “She negotiated well, after all. You’re a quick learner Pheebs.”

Maggie nodded and gestured with her head toward the living room. “Go get your books. Wait!” Before Phoebe could move, Maggie held up her hands. “Hand check.” Phoebe immediately held her hands up, and Maggie did a quick check, front and back, of the girl’s hands. When she declared them free of dinner remnants, she rubbed Phoebe’s head and held out her fist. “You did great, sweetie. Team short guys.” 

Phoebe hopped a bit as she applied a fist bump and then took off to root through the bag. Maggie began to help Alex clear the plates and move things to the kitchen.

“So what’s this team short guys thing?” Alex asked as she stacked their plates by the sink. “And can I get in on it?”

“Not unless you start knee walking around, although you on your knees…” Maggie grinned and then carefully placed the glasses into the sink. “It was the first thing I did that got her to open up to me. She was scared crapless when I got her. She’d been passed around by a bunch of cops, most of them big guys with no necks, and she was terrified. She’d just watched her parents get murdered. Can you imagine? Anyway, my job was to keep her alive, but what’s the point of that if she doesn’t have a life to go back to, so I tried to get her to come out of her shell. I thought maybe I could give her some power back by making her see how often people underestimate people based on their height. I showed her my sergeant's badge and told her it meant I was in charge of all of those other cops, and now I worked for her. We became Team Short Guys. That’s how we got on the same side. It was a small thing, like me,” she grinned, “but it made a big difference… also like me.”

Alex didn’t really know what to say after that as she stood by the sink. So many feelings, warring and crashing about inside, tugging at her heart and soul. Her heart was screaming one thing at her, her head something totally different. She didn’t know which to listen to, so in the end she simply shook her head and started to run the hot water into the sink. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re amazing?”

“Heh, that’s what she said.”

Alex shook her head, but not in amusement this time. “Don’t… Don’t do that. When someone sees you and tries to give you a compliment, don’t push them away. What are you afraid of?”

“I…” Maggie swallowed hard, but she held eye contact with Alex, and there was an utter truth to her words when she said, “being real with someone who’s real back, falling for someone that doesn’t work out, and I can’t get over.”

The silence that followed was palpable. The only sound between them was the running of the water and the pounding of their hearts. 

Looking away, Maggie shook her head. “Hey, can I confide something crazy in you, Danvers, and by crazy I mean don’t tell that shrink girlfriend of yours, or I’ll end up in a sweater with wrap around sleeves?”

“Sure,” Alex nodded, glad of the change of topic as she picked up her beer bottle off the counter, drained the last of it then disposed of the bottle in recycling, returning to the sink in time to add some washing up liquid, let the bubbles build for a moment, then turn the water off.

“Okay, but don’t mock me. I’m being serious here.” Maggie glanced over to the living room area, then lowered her voice. “I’ve been having hallucinations.”

Whatever Alex had been expecting her to say, it certainly wasn’t this. She paused, just about to dip the first of the plates into the water, but then withdrew it slowly, set it back on the side and turned to give Maggie her full and undivided attention. “Hallucinations? Of what?”

“Again, I’ve been through a lot this past week, so if you want to pick on me, I’ll take a raincheck. I’ve been seeing numbers.”

Alex licked her lips for a moment, her throat suddenly feeling like sandpaper as she struggled to swallow. “Numbers?” She repeated. “What… what kind of numbers?”

“Not the fucking lottery. If it wasn’t for bad luck, I’d have no fucking luck at all.” Maggie leaned back against the countertop with a heavy sigh. “It’s always the same number, ten digits long. I didn’t know what it was until… until you called me.”

“You’ve been seeing my number.” It was a statement, not a question as Alex turned and leaned against the counter as well, but so that she was facing Maggie.

“Crazy, right, but I swear it’s true. I guess you’ve been on my mind. Maybe I knew you were the perfect person to help with the kid even before things got really messed up.” Maggie shook her hair with one hand on her scalp then ran a hand through her hair. “Maybe I just needed a good night’s sleep because it’s stopped now.”

“Maggie,” Alex waited until the other woman had looked up at last and held eye contact, before she carried on, her tone deadly serious and not a hint of mocking or humor to her voice. “You’re not crazy. I believe you. And if I’m being brutally honest, I’m kind of glad you told me, because now it means that I definitely wasn’t going crazy either.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“Think about it for a moment, Mags. You changed your number after we… you know. How do you think I called you on a new number that I didn’t have?”

“I… Shit, I didn’t even think about that. I just heard your voice and… Fuck. What does this mean?”

“I think right now we have more pressing issues to deal with,” Alex gave Phoebe a pointed look as the little girl tried to decide which three books she wanted to read at bedtime. Then Alex looked back at Maggie again. “But for now, let’s just say that neither of us is crazy. Which is quite frankly a huge relief, as far as I’m concerned.”

“Yeah, you’re right on both counts. Well, color me intrigued, but we’ll table this discussion until the kid is safe. Speaking of which,” Maggie went to the breakfast bar and leaned over it. “Hey, pick up the pace, kiddo. It’s tubby time.”

“I’m ready,” Phoebe said as Maggie rounded the breakfast bar and made her way into the living room.

“Hold on. I’ll take this.” Maggie unstrapped the Supergirl signal watch that was wrapped around Phoebe’s forearm. “Hey, Danvers, where should I put this?”

“Put what?” Alex stepped into view.

“Your fancy watch. It’s probably waterproof, but let’s not test that theory.” 

“Oh, um… just put it on the coffee table. I’ll grab it when I’m done with dishes.”

“Cool,” Maggie said, placing it on the table. “Come on, Phoebe, let’s get you washed up.”

“Can Alex help?”

Maggie looked back at Alex. “Can Alex help?”

“Uh… sure. I guess. Alex was going to do the dishes, but the dishes can wait for now,” Alex grabbed a towel to dry her hands of the soap suds from the sink, then grinned at Phoebe. “Now tell me, does Alex need to go and find her snorkel and flippers? Or is this more of a rubber ducky situation?”

“You can’t snorkel in the tubby, silly,” Phoebe giggled, finally settling on three books and laying them on the bed. “Tubby time?”

“Awww, does that mean we’re not going swimming to search for sunken pirate ships and buried treasure?” Alex mock pouted. “How about row boats? Please tell me we’re rowing our boats merrily down the stream?”

“You’re silly, Alex.” Phoebe took Alex’s hand and tugged her toward the bathroom.

“Yeah, you’re silly, Alex,” Maggie said, winking when Alex glanced over her shoulder and rolled her eyes.

“No, I’m not,” Alex protested with a big grin. “Go on, Pheebs, tell her I’m not silly.” She covered one eye with her hand and affected a silly accent. “I’m a pirate, aaargh, shiver me timbers and walk the plank, ye lily livered landlubber.”

“Eeek, a pirate! Maggie, save me!”

“Hey, what do we say when we need to protect ourselves?” Maggie asked.

Phoebe froze for a moment, but then she pointed up at Alex and yelled, “No!” It was impressively loud.

Alex’s hand dropped back to her side, and she stared at Phoebe, stunned, for just a moment before a huge smile broke out on her face and she held up her hand. “Alright Phoebe! High five! That’s awesome! Well done you.”

Phoebe hopped up, slapping Alex’s hand. “That’s my power.”

“Not just a power, Pheebs, that’s a super power,” Alex nodded proudly. “Good job.”

Maggie had walked around them and started to fill the tub, adjusting the water temperature until she seemed pleased with it. “Hey, speaking of rubber duckies, you got anything of your sister’s here?”

“Pfft, no of course I don’t,” Alex replied with a scoff. “What do you take me for? A… yeah alright, okay I’ll go and see what she’s got in the closet. Hold that thought.” Alex ducked out of the bathroom then returned a moment later carrying a shoebox. “Here we go. Not quite rubber duckies, but who knows what stuff we’ll find in Kara’s cereal box collection.”

Phoebe’s eyes grew wide as she looked at the collection of colored pieces of plastic.

“Go ahead, sweetie,” Maggie said. “Pick out a few to play with in the tub.”

That was all the coaxing it took, and Phoebe had a handful of toys to play with. Soon, she was splashing in the tub, and the struggle to keep more of the water in the bathtub than out was real. There were three towels piled up around the base of the tub just to sop up from the splash zone. No one tried to stop her. No one had any interest in seeing a little girl who had just lost her parents miss out on even a moment’s happiness. True happiness was rare and fleeting in this world and should be embraced not disgraced.

Brows furrowed and sleeves pushed up past her elbows (for all the good it did her), Maggie glanced over her shoulder out the bathroom door. “Is that your phone, Danvers?”

Alex had given up trying to roll her sleeves up and had just taken her shirt off completely, now sitting in a black vest top and soggy jeans beside the bath. She glanced out through the door as well, then nodded. “Sorry, give me a sec. It might be Brainy’s found something else.” She stood up, then dipped her hand in the bath and splashed Phoebe playfully, before darting back out of the splash zone and heading out into the living room, chuckling to herself. 

She paused beside the coffee table, trying to remember where she’d left her phone. It wasn’t on the coffee table, though her super watch was. She’d need to take that back after the bathtub splash about later. But for now…

“Phone, phone, damn it where are - aha! There you are.” The kitchen counter. Of course. Crossing to the kitchen, she picked up her phone and glanced at the screen then winced. “Crap.” Two missed calls from Kelly. “She’s going to kill me.”

Not wanting Kelly to hear Phoebe’s laughter coming from the direction of the bathroom, Alex figured it was probably safer to text her back, rather than call her, so she shot off a quick message instead.

_ Alex: “Hey! Sorry I missed your calls, got tied up in something work related. Everything ok? Xx” _

_ Kelly: “I hope everything is okay with work. Do we need to reschedule our date?” _

Alex frowned. Had they arranged another date? Had she totally forgotten? Of course they had! Just that morning. 

“Uh, worst girlfriend ever,” Alex chastised herself, even as her thumbs darted across the screen quickly, typing a reply.

Alex:  _ “No, no, I have some time free. I think. Let me just check. I’m sorry I forgot. Work was… well work.”  _

She walked back over to the bathroom with her phone in hand and peered her head inside the door. “Hey Maggie, I, uh… well I’ve been an idiot, basically. Apparently, Kelly and I had a date scheduled for tonight, and I totally forgot. Do you mind if I maybe see her for a bit whilst you finish up in here? I promise I won’t be long. I’ll be finished in time for stories. Well… maybe story number three.”

“Like FaceTime?” Maggie wiped her hands on one of the many towels strewn about the bathroom. “If you’re going out, that’s cool, we’ll hold down the fort. Just remember your curfew.”

“Actually it’s a virtual reality date. Kelly works for Obsidian North and they have these VR contact lenses, so we’ve been using them to meet up whilst she’s been away. I’ll only be out on the couch but, uh… maybe I should put some shades on. The contacts can look a bit freaky and I don’t want to, you know…” she nodded towards Phoebe.

“Knock yourself out, Danvers. Have a nice time with your lady, and don’t let us interrupt. Just close the door. We’ll try to keep it down to a dull roar.”

“Thanks ba-” Alex cut herself off sharply, eyes going wide as she realised what she’d been about to say. She quickly amended herself. “-ack soon. I’ll, yeah. I’ll be back soon. If you need me just pinch my arm or something. I’ll get a signal in the VR, and I’ll know to come back out.”

Before she could make an even bigger fool of herself, she ducked back out of the bathroom, closing the door behind her, shot off another quick text to Kelly to tell her she was on her way, then went over to the small unit beside the front door where she kept her shades. She didn’t want Phoebe to see her with her ‘freaky eyes’ after all. The poor kid had been through enough trauma already. 

After fetching the shades, she went to the coffee table, took the small box with the lenses in and set it on top of the table, took the lenses out and put them in quickly, then placed the shades on and laid back on the couch, blinking her eyes open to the virtual world once more.

They were back at Kelly’s favorite place in Metropolis again, only this time Kelly was the one wearing a charcoal suit, whilst Alex glanced down to see that she was sporting a little blue dress. Kelly had the flowers this time as she waved Alex over to their usual table.

“Hey, am I late?” Alex breathed as she hurried over, smoothing down non existent creases in the skirt of her dress. “I’m so sorry.”

“A little, but I know the owner, so they were able to hold our table.” Kelly laid a kiss on Alex’s cheek. “Is everything okay? You seem a little flustered.”

“It’s fine. I’m fine. Everything’s fine,” Alex nodded, returning a kiss on Kelly’s cheek as well. “I just got sidetracked and didn’t realise the time. Work’s been hectic, lately.”

“I think hectic is in your job description. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather postpone?”

“Hey, I’m here now aren’t I,” Alex affected a bright smile as she motioned to their table. “Shall we? Remind me again what tonight’s specials are?”

“Alright, follow me.” Kelly led them to a table setup with five glasses, each with an amber liquid inside. “Now you know what I know about scotch, which is only that my girlfriend loves it, but we do have a few people on payroll who know a thing or two. Apparently, there are five scotch whisky regions: Campbeltown, Highland, Islay, Lowland, and Speyside. I’m told each offers a different perspective on Scotch Whisky. Are you ready to do some calorie free drinking with no hangover effects?”

“Am I ever!” Alex agreed eagerly. “The way this week has been going, I feel like I could drink myself into oblivion, and yet at the same time I need to be on top form in case anything else happens, so this-” she motioned to the setup, “- is the perfect solution, and you are a genius.”

“I won’t disagree with you.” Kelly pointed to the first glass. “I have to refer to notes here.” Her eyes glazed over as she spoke. “Campbeltown whiskies are varied and full of flavor. Hint of salt, smoke, fruit, vanilla, and toffee mingle in whiskies of robust and rich character.” Then her focus came back. “Okay, now here comes the ‘work’. You have to taste it and grade it not just for general taste but to see if it matches up with the goal for that region. Got it?”

Alex had only half been paying attention to Kelly’s explanation however. She’d been thinking back to the scene she’d left behind in her apartment. Snapping back to her senses quickly though, she nodded and smiled. “Got it.” Picking up the glass quickly to start tasting, she sniffed it first, then took a sip to start, before coughing slightly. “Oh… well. I mean you can tell what it’s meant to be, so that’s a good sign, but I’d say there’s more than just a hint of salt and smoke in it. They overpower everything else. Maybe tone them back to let the other flavours have a chance?”

Kelly closed her eyes for a moment then nodded. “Okay, noted. Next glass is from the Highland Region.  This region, which also takes in the islands, has a huge diversity of flavours and characters. From lighter whiskies all the way through salty coastal malts, the Highlands offers a Scotch for all palates.” Kelly looked over at Alex and shrugged. “Okay, they didn’t give me any notes on particular flavors with this one. Do your best, I guess.”

Alex nodded and picked up the glass, swirled the liquid inside for a moment, then took a sip and promptly broke out into a much more violent coughing fit. “No shit! They didn’t give you any notes because there aren’t any flavors! What the hell is this? Bleach?! Whoever was in charge of this one needs to have a serious lesson in what the hell they’re supposed to be making. Did they think they were making vodka or something?” She set the glass down with a slight shudder. “I’m sorry Kelly, but that one’s a big no.”

“O-kay. I’m just going to mark down that my girlfriend is armed, extremely scary, and wants the address of whoever made this one, so maybe fixing it should be a priority.”

“Absolutely,” Alex scowled as she pushed the glass away from her, almost as if it had offended her in some way. “Virtual or not, you cannot serve that to any-ow!” She glanced down at her arm, expecting to see some kind of bug. But instead, she saw nothing. Frowning in confusion, Alex looked back up at Kelly. “Bugs? You’re really going to town with this whole realism thing, aren’t you. I think I just got bit.”

“Um, not my doing. Maybe one of the techs made them? It’s not the kind of realism I need.” Kelly glanced around in the air.

“Gimme his address and I’ll be sure to give him a piece of my mi-ow! Owowowowow holy crap! What the actual fuck is going ow! Kelly, whatever this is, make it stop!” Alex jumped up from her seat and was rubbing her forearm furiously.

“Alex, what’s wrong? Is your neural interface malfunctioning?”

“God, I have no idea,” Alex winced and rubbed her arm again. “It feels like I’m being…” Her eyes widened slowly in dawning realisation. “I’m being pinched! Shit, Kelly I’m so, so sorry, but I’ve got to bail. Something’s come up, and I’ve - I’ve got to go.”

“What? Alex, what’s going on?”

“It’s - ugh!” Alex ran her hands through her hair furiously. “I really want to tell you, Kelly. You know I would if I could, but it’s classified. I can’t. I’m so sorry. I promise I’ll explain everything as soon as I can, but I really do have to go.” She darted forward and stole a quick kiss from her girlfriend. “I’m sorry. Please forgive me. End simulation!”

Sitting up on her sofa and tugging the shades off, Alex quickly removed the Obsidian lenses. “What the he—!”

“He’s here,” Maggie hissed as she slapped a hand over Alex’s mouth. She pointed furiously toward the door with her free hand.

There was a knock on the door, and a man’s voice said, “Hello? I have a delivery for Alex Danvers from a Miss Kelly Olsen. Hello?”

Maggie slowly pulled her hand off of Alex’s face and shook her head.

Alex’s eyes darted all about the room as she took stock of the situation. Kelly had said nothing about a delivery, so Alex knew that it was most likely a ruse, and Maggie’s actions all but confirmed it. The question of how this guy knew not only her name but her girlfriend’s name would have to wait though. There was something much more pressing that needed to be dealt with.

“Where’s Phoebe?” She mouthed, standing slowly and as quietly as she could, years of training in stealth making her almost completely silent in her movements. 

“Bathroom,” Maggie responded just as quietly, her hand resting on the firearm on her hip.

Alex saw Maggie reaching for her gun and shook her head, then mouthed her next words carefully and quietly, using hand signals to back them up. “You get Phoebe and go out the fire escape. I’ll cover you.” Already she was looking around again to see which of her stashed firearms she could get to first. It would have to be the one in the secret compartment in the small unit by the door. The question was, could she get across the room, get the firearm and slide the extra bolts across her door without making a sound. And more to the point, could Maggie keep Phoebe quiet as they made their escape?

It turned out that they wouldn’t find out. Maggie was halfway to the window with Phoebe in her arms when the door came crashing open, and an armed man stood in the doorway.

“No!” Phoebe pointed and yelled over Maggie’s shoulder.

“Go!” Alex yelled almost on top of Phoebe’s own scream as she spear tackled the man, and they went down in an angry heap. Maggie only paused for a moment before practically tossing the girl out the window onto the fire escape and then climbing after her. That left Alex and the intruder to trade fists, knees, elbows, and even the occasional headbutt as they vied for dominance. They managed to get back to their feet, and Alex had even managed to knock his weapon away and push him back a few steps, when he pulled a second pistol from behind him. 

“Fuck!”

Alex dove over the couch and slid across the coffee table which she grabbed and flipped as she landed on the floor on the other side. It ended on its side with her behind it, and bullets sunk into its reinforced surface. As blood pounded through her ears, Alex slapped at her wrist and froze. Her watch, her signal watch wasn’t there. She looked around as best she could without coming out from cover. There were papers everywhere, some books, magazines, a spilled glass, dirt from the plant that crashed over… The watch had been on the table and was now somewhere in the battlefield that was her apartment. Until she found it, super reinforcements weren’t coming. Fuck!

  
  
  
  



	5. Chapter 5

_ “Every day it’s a little harder, as I feel my powers grow. _

_ Don’t you know there’s part of me that longs to go, _

_ Into the unknown?” _

  
  


Eight, BANG! Nine, BANG! Ten, BANG!

Alex counted in her head as bullets sank into the (thankfully) reinforced coffee table. Despite looking like glass, the prototype material had held up against automatic weapon fire in testing, but this was the first time an agent had used one in a live combat situation. At least as far as Alex was aware. Her attacker was using a GLOCK 17. She’d gotten a quick look at it before she ducked for cover, but she knew her firearms. The magazine held seventeen bullets, but if she were coming in ready for a fight, she’d have seventeen in the clip and one already in the chamber. Sure enough, Cain Johnson emptied all eighteen bullets (a bit of an overkill she thought, but perhaps her reputation preceded her) into the table. Even before the tell-tale sound of the empty clip hitting the ground, Alex knew she had a very, very limited window to act and was on the move. 

He’d moved toward the window in his pursuit of Phoebe, putting him near her bedroom, so she vaulted back over the sofa, sending cushions and the fleece throw scattering in all directions as she grabbed the burning hot barrel of the gun, twisting it to the side. She bit down on the hiss of pain as her skin sizzled, blistering in spots. If she was lucky (or more to the point, if she was good at her job) she could deal with that later. Even as he slapped the new clip in with surprising speed, she brought her other fist up, around, and down onto the bridge of his nose, smashing him in the face. The force of her blow sent a shockwave all the way from her fist through her elbow, though she was sure his face fared worse. As his head snapped back, his eyes watering, she pulled the gun toward her, but his grip hadn’t loosened. Rather than getting into a fight with a man whose finger was on the trigger of a loaded pistol, she pushed the clip release with her free hand and kicked the clip away when it hit the ground instead, effectively disarming him without actually disarming him. This bought her a few seconds of time, at least. In theory.

If Alex didn’t already know he was a trained soldier, she’d know it now, however. He was reacting to his training, and despite her strike to his face, he pulled the gun closer as he slapped out blindly with his other hand, trying to grapple. As good a fighter as Alex was, she’d seen his record. If you added up his knowledge of jiu jitsu, judo, and the fact that he had seventy pounds of muscle on her, she knew she wouldn't win this in a ground fight. With a foe this big and dangerous, the best defense was a good offense, so she released his now empty weapon, slipped under his grip, dashed across the room, popped open the drawer on her wine rack, pulled out a pistol there that recognized and only worked with her handprint (a safety feature in case anyone else should try to use it), and placed five bullets into a cluster in his chest. She was taking no chances and would have emptied an entire clip if she’d had to. As it was, he dropped like a rock.

“Fuck.”

Running a hand through her hair as she breathed deeply, one breath after the other as she tried to calm down and take stock of the situation, Alex looked around her wrecked living room. But it was a small price to pay to protect Phoebe. Things could be replaced. Life was priceless. 

Her cell phone was lost somewhere in the mess that was her living room, and she needed to get someone to find Maggie as well as deal with the body that was now in her apartment, so she headed for the stairs to her bedroom. Paging Supergirl with the button on the utility belt of her suit was a bit of an overkill at this point, but it was also the easiest option. She really wasn’t looking forward to explaining to her nosey neighbor, Mrs. Simpson, or her landlord why there were shots fired at her place and although she had her FBI badge in her jacket pocket, having a superhero there to explain things couldn’t hurt either.

Alex was about two steps from the stairs, just past the downed intruder, when one of her feet was yanked out from underneath her. She went down fast, not even able to get her hands out in time to break her fall as all she could do was yelp in surprise. She managed to turn slightly, more out of instinct than training, but her cheek and ribs collided hard with the steps that sunk in sharply, and little black dots danced in her vision, even as she tasted something warm, bitter and metallic and a searing hot pain scorched a trail up her side where the steps had struck her ribs. She fought against beckoning unconsciousness, knowing that if she were to close her eyes, she’d never open them again, but one’s will still had to bargain with anatomy. The darkness crept in calling… cajoling… promising everything would be alright if she just… let… go.

It wasn’t until the third thud of her head hitting a step that she fully came back to her senses, ironically, and realized she was being dragged by one leg. Blinking furiously, clearing her vision, she saw her attacker bent at the waist as he dragged her back closer to the door. How was he still alive?! He wasn’t wearing a bulletproof vest or any other type of kevlar. She’d have felt that when she’d tackled him. And yet she’d emptied five rounds into his chest and he was back up on his feet again?! What the hell was going on?!

Her eyes widened as she realised that he’d collected his empty GLOCK and was tugging her toward the clip. With consciousness, panic threatened, but Alex’s years of training prevailed over the natural panic instinct. Every living creature has the survival instinct known as ‘fight or flight’ and right now Alex knew that in her current state, she couldn’t run. Flight was out of the option, so either she fought, or she died. End of.

Everything ached from the top of her head to the ankle he was holding, but pain equaled life, and Alex knew she was seconds from losing that. Again acting mostly on instinct and reflex, she curled up like a ball, which dragged her torso closer to her attacker. This brought her within reach so that with her other foot, she was able to twist and lash out suddenly, unfurling like a striking viper and kicking him in the side of the head, forcing him to release her foot and knocking him down. Had she been wearing boots it could possibly have been a KO. It should have been a KO. But being that he’d attacked her within what was supposed to have been the safety of her own home, she wasn’t actually wearing boots. As a result, her socked feet stunned him, but nothing more. Still, it was enough to make him let go, so in a way it had had the desired effect. 

Though she stumbled, Alex rose again, determination overriding the pain - albeit temporarily. But she could lick her wounds later… if she survived. She grabbed the clip and lurched back out of his way when he lunged at her, nearly slipping and falling when she stepped off of the carpeting and onto the hardwood in only socks, but she maintained her footing… barely. A quick jump forward seemed to take him by surprise, and she used a simple front kick to stop any of his further forward momentum and buy herself two seconds. That would have to be enough time. Again, she was in a small area, and he had a definite strength advantage. She needed to use her terrain. Knowing firearms weren’t an advantage in such close quarters, Alex snapped out a quick sidekick to his knee, just another stalling tactic, and then sprinted for the kitchen, pocketing the ammo clip to stop him from getting it and reloading his gun again.

He was hot on her heels, just two steps behind, and as she reached the knife block, she turned with a knife in hand and a quick throwing motion, aiming low this time. Although his shirt had felt like a heavy canvas when she tackled him, it stopped bullets, so she had no expectation of a knife penetrating it and didn’t even bother trying. 

Thankfully it seemed that only his shirt was bulletproof - probably some kind of technology from that douchebag boss of his, Max Lord - and she couldn’t keep a smile from flashing onto her face when the knife sank through the material of his jeans and into the flesh below, causing a bloom of scarlet to seep through the material in a steadily growing patch. He grimaced and cursed, limping back a pace or two, his hands going to his thigh as he looked down at what she’d done. 

Payback wasn’t the only bitch in this fight. 

Even as he was pulling the knife out, Alex had already grabbed a dish towel, twisting and wrapping it around her left forearm twice, snagged both ends in her burnt hand as a makeshift shield and bit back a cry of her own as the material snagged against the blisters on her palm. She grabbed a second knife, the blade slightly longer this time and held against her right forearm, then turned as he lunged.

Knife fights are always bloody, and it’s rare for anyone involved in them to come out unscathed. Alex could testify to that. Even with the dish cloth to deflect some cuts, her opponent was still able to score on her several times. Most were light slashes, and she gave better than she got, leaving long slices along his arms, cheek, and a nasty gash over his eye that bled freely and definitely played havoc with his vision to her advantage. She also used his bloody thigh to her advantage, kicking it on more than one occasion and earning herself a special nickname and no doubt a very special place in his heart. That damned shirt of his proved to be just as resistant to knives as it was to bullets, just as she’d suspected, so after a few test jabs, Alex abandoned that tactic. In just a few short minutes they were both bloody, breathing hard, and fatigued close to their end. At some point, he smashed drinking glasses to the ground, creating terrain that didn’t negatively affect him but proved dangerous and painful to her sock covered feet, the material providing absolutely no protection against the razor sharp shards of glass as she stepped on them more than once. As the blood coated the bottoms of her feet and soaked into the socks, they became slippery and slick, which only added to the list of hazards she now had to navigate around. If this didn’t end soon, she would be dead. Of that she had no doubt. 

“You’re a piece of shit, you know that?” She growled as she feinted at his eye and kicked his leg.

“Just shut up and die already.”

As he swung at her, Alex used his momentum to swing him past her and elbow him in the kidney. He grunted and they both turned, set and ready for more.

“I know -” Alex panted, biting down on a gasp of pain as a shard of glass sliced into her foot. “I know she’s your daughter.” 

That scored as well as any attack so far. His eyes widened, and the weight shifted off the balls of his feet. Alex struck quickly, slicing his face and then bringing both of her wrists to either side of his, trapping his knife hand between a suddenly and forceful slap. Her top hand hit the back of his hand while the bottom hit his wrist and bent it over. His knife went flying from his grip.

“What kind of a piece of shit tries to kill his own kid!” Alex struck out several times, forcing him to retreat.

When he hit the stove, his hand flashed out with another dish rag. It wrapped around Alex’s wrist, and he grabbed it with his other hand and twisted. Then he pulled and slammed her wrist to the counter again and again, yelling at her in between each brutal smash to the countertop.

“I’m… not… trying… to… hurt.. her. She’s… mine!”

The knife finally fell from Alex’s bruised and battered hand. Even if her strength wasn’t failing her, Alex knew she couldn’t win in an arm wrestling match, so she struck out with her free hand. But exhaustion and injuries made the swing sloppy, and he blocked her easily. She had no option but to head butt him, the last ditch effort of the truly desperate. She drove her forehead into the bridge of his nose and then rolled across the breakfast counter to escape, sending her pebble bookends and cookery books flying in all directions and ignoring the flash of pain across her brow which was accompanied by literal stars that danced in her eyes.

He clearly had the advantage over her in pretty much every way possible, she realised now. Except for one. This was her apartment. She literally had home ground advantage, and she was going to use that as if her very life depended on it.

Which it did.

Dropping to the floor on the other side of the counter, she scrambled and made it to the front of the broken-in door when he caught up with her. She was out of room, out of time, but never out of ideas. Grabbing a bottle from the wine rack, she spun 180 degrees, smacking him upside the head. She put every last ounce of strength in her body into the blow, and this time, when he went down, he stayed down. The bottle shattered upon impact, thick chunks of green glass spraying everywhere as he was drenched in a Merlot shower.

“Holy fuck.” Alex staggered back to lean against the wall behind her, panting as her whole body shook with exhaustion. The entire fight had taken less than ten minutes. Ten minutes of coursing adrenaline, pain, and blood loss. She hurt from the tips of her hair to the points of her toenails, and she knew that this was nothing compared to the pain she’d be in by tomorrow. She hadn’t even begun cataloguing her injuries, but the worst was yet to come. As she looked down at her hand, her eyes grew wide, and the horrible truth sank in. It was the literal insult added to injury. “Nooooo! Not the 2015 Melka Mekerra Merlot. I was saving this for a special occasion. Son of a bitch!”

If she’d had the energy to weep then, she would have. As it was, the hand holding the remnants of the bottle dropped back to her side as she leaned back heavily against the wall, with every intention of just sliding down it until she was sitting. And then that’s where she was going to stay. 

Or at least that was the plan. But as usual, the universe had other ideas in mind.

“Alex!”

Despite every muscle in her body screaming in protest, Alex shot back to an upright position away from the wall, broken bottle brandished in hand like a makeshift weapon, ready to face whatever new threat had just made its presence known. Catching a very, very brief glimpse of herself in the reflection of one of the windows, she could see a wild eyed, almost feral looking redhead snarling back at her - a wounded animal backed into a corner, ready to defend itself till it’s very last breath.

“Alex, I’m here!” Supergirl said as she flew through the open window and landed amid the remains of what had been Alex’s living room. She glanced about briefly before her gaze settled on the unconscious man at her sister’s feet. “Oh, you got him.”

Breathing a ragged sigh of relief, Alex let the bottle drop from her hand finally. “Where the hell have you been?!” She swayed on the spot for a moment, then staggered, thinking she was about to collapse completely. A part of her mind welcomed it. At least then she’d finally get some rest. Fighting was exhausting!

“I got you.” Supergirl grabbed Alex, helping her sister over to a seat on the couch which had seen better days but was still mostly intact. She took a better look around the living room, eyes widening at the destruction. “Wow, your place is trashed.” Then she reached down, touching Alex’s brow and making her sister hiss in pain and wince away. “Did you know your head is bleeding?”

“No shit, Sherlock,” Alex growled as she tried her best to get comfortable on the couch, which was easier said than done when her ribs, in particular, were now screaming in agony and every move, no matter how tiny, hurt like hell. “This must be why you’re an investigative reporter.”

“Okay, so we’re still in the angy part of post-combat. I won’t take that personally. Are you okay?”

“Better than him,” Alex groaned as she motioned to the downed, unconscious form of Cain Johnson who was lying sprawled in a pool of red wine across the floor.

“Kind of a low bar to clear.” Supergirl sighed. “Why didn’t you use your signal watch and call me?”

Alex raised one eyebrow, or started to before she realised that it hurt too much, so changed to a vague hand gesture at the mess instead. “I tried.”

“Oh,” Supergirl said as she looked around the disaster zone of a living room. “Well, you could have used the one built into your DEO suit.”

This time Alex really did raise an eyebrow, despite the pain. “I fucking tried!”

“O-o-okay. You could have just yelled my name.”

Alex took a deep breath, squinting her eyes closed as she growled through gritted teeth, one hand raised to point a trembling finger towards the direction of the window. “Just… get the fuck out.”

“Hey, I know you’re upset and…” Supergirl looked around again. “You have good reason to be, but I’m not leaving you alone. You need medical attention, and we need to get him brought to the police. Hey, speaking of the police, did you know Maggie was back in town, and she has a kid?”

“Phoebe,” Alex groaned as she tried to sit up a little. “Are they both okay? Are they safe?”

“Hey, relax, they’re fine. The little girl was eating a lollipop and trying on the bank’s security guard’s cap when I left them. She’s a cutie, huh? Great dimples.”

“Yeah,” Alex managed her first genuine smile since her sister’s arrival. “Yeah she really is.” And then she frowned. “Wait, why was she in a bank?”

“Yeah, funny story, Maggie may or may not have a felony record now.”

“I… she… what?” Alex blinked.

“Yeah, you see she needed Supergirl so she… Wait a second, how did you know the little girl’s name was Phoebe?”

“Uh…so about that,” Alex cringed a little. “Also a funny story…”

  
  


<><>

  
  


“Ow,” Alex groaned as she tried to sit up a little straighter on the couch. “Ow. Ow!”

“Oh, quit being a big baby,” Maggie smirked as she knelt by the side of the couch, an array of medical items laid out on the floor in front of her and on the once again upright coffee table beside her. 

“You try doing anything with a cracked rib, then tell me I’m exaggerating,” Alex huffed. 

“Must be handy having a mobile x-ray machine for a superhero show up to check you over.” Maggie reached out and adjusted the pillows a little behind Alex’s back to help her sit straighter. “Better?”

“Thanks. You good with this next bit?”

“Don’t worry, Danvers, I’ve patched you up plenty of times in the past, remember? I got this,” Maggie smiled as she took a gauze pad, poured a little antiseptic ointment onto it and then very gently reached up one gloved hand to brush a few strands of Alex’s hair away from her eye. Alex took the ice pack away from where she’d been holding it against her brow, and Maggie replaced it with the gauze pad, causing Alex to suck in a sharp breath and squint her eyes closed. She didn’t voice her pain aloud, however, just gritted her teeth and waited for the sting to subside. 

It didn’t fade completely, but as Maggie gently wiped the open wound to clean it as much as she was able to with the pad and antiseptic ointment, she spoke almost casually, perhaps trying to dispel some of the tension? Or maybe to take Alex’s mind off the pain?

“So, Phoebe’s gone with Social Services now. They’re going to get her checked over in hospital to make sure she’s okay, then they’re going to try and trace any relatives she might have. See if she can stay with them.”

“That’s good,” Alex nodded, causing Maggie’s hand to slip. “Ow!”

“Hold still! Damn it, Danvers, you’re such a lousy patient.”

“Sorry,” Alex mumbled as she tried to hold still again and let Maggie continue. Now that the wound was clean, the sergeant was applying steri-strips to hold the cut closed and hopefully give it a chance to heal without the need for proper stitches. “Okay, so explain to me how you ended up in cuffs in the First National Bank?”

“There were no cuffs. That’s just you being kinky, Danvers.” Maggie grinned. “Look, I needed to call Supergirl, but I don’t have your sister’s digits anymore, so I did what anyone in this town does when they want Kara’s attention.”

“Which is?”

“Be gay, do crime.”

Alex blinked, then sighed with exhaustion. “I am too tired for this. Did you rob a bank?”

Maggie held her thumb and forefinger about an inch apart. “Just a little robbery.”

“Jesus. What were you thinking?”

“I was being resourceful. All I had was a gun and a vaguely hostage-sized kid. I saw the bank, and Phoebe agreed to play pretend with me. I knew if I tried to explain what I needed, it would take them thirty-seconds to hit the alarm, but if I ran in there and yelled, ‘This is a stick up!’ they’d do it in three seconds.”

“You’re insane.”

“No, I’m good at math. Look at this place. Look at you.” Maggie gently squeezed Alex’s shoulder. “The difference between thirty and three is twenty-seven, and there are a hell of a lot of ways for you to die in twenty-seven seconds.”

There were several moments of silence while Alex leaned into the contact, too tired to move, missing those brown eyes too much to look away. Then, through sheer force of will, she pulled back. “You didn’t really say, ‘this is a stick up’, did you?”

“I certainly did, and I pointed my service revolver in the air. It was very 1950s.”

“What if the security guard had shot you?”

“The only shot that security guard ever took was from a bottle. He never even took the safety off his gun.” Maggie reached out, checking the butterfly bandage over Alex’s brow. “You really do look like hell. You know that, right?”

Alex smiled at Maggie’s words. “Nah I’ve had worse. You should see the other guy.”

“I did. Right before they carted him off in the back of an ambulance under a joint DEO and police escort. I always knew you could hit hard, but damn!”

“He invaded my home and attacked people I care about,” Alex shrugged, then yelped and a hand shot to her side as she blinked back tears of pain. “So I… I wasn’t going to pull any punches.”

“Clearly,” Maggie replied, setting the bloodied gauze beside the bowl of warm, cloudy red water and the cloth she’d used to clean most of the blood already from Alex’s face before she’d focussed on cleaning the actual wound itself. She sat back for a moment, took off the gloves and set them beside the rest of the bits on the table, then reached out a hand and placed it tenderly on Alex’s cheek, tracing the steadily forming bruise that followed the arch of Alex’s cheekbone. 

Alex leaned into the touch, feeling the pad of Maggie’s thumb as it gently stroked her cheek. It was comforting and reassuring. It took her mind off the pain for the moment and it felt amazing.

“I...I wanted to say thank you. If you hadn’t jumped him when you did, I’m not sure that Phoebe and I—”

“Don’t,” Alex muttered quietly. “Don’t do that to yourself, Mags. Everything worked out in the end. Phoebe’s safe. We got the bastard behind all this and everyone is okay.”

“Not everyone.” At Alex’s quizzical look, Maggie continued. “You got hurt.”

“It comes with the job,” Alex went to shrug again, but remembered just in time and stopped herself. “This isn’t the first time and it won’t be the last, either.”

Maggie opened her mouth to say something else as she brushed another strand of hair away from Alex’s face gently.

“Alex...” Leaning closer, Maggie held Alex’s gaze and Alex licked her lips involuntarily, then winced as the split in her lower lip made its presence known sharply. 

“Maggie…”

Voices and footsteps out in the hallway cut into the tender moment, seconds before the apartment door opened and Supergirl stepped in. Maggie sat back sharply, putting some distance between herself and Alex once more, a slight blush creeping up her cheeks that didn’t go unnoticed by Alex. But now was not the time to mention it.

“Hey, Alex,” Supergirl said as she entered the apartment. “Look who I found lurking in the hallway.” 

“I was not lurking,” Brainy said as he also stepped into the apartment. “Mrs. Simpson engaged me in a conversation surrounding gunfire, and I was attempting to put her mind at ease and be circumspect in my explanation.”

“I let her take a pic of me holding her cat.” Supergirl shrugged. “Charlie’s a cutie.”

“Director, I have some information regarding the ongoing investigation. I need to know when it would be a good time to schedule a conversation with you to go over this,” Brainy looked back and forth between Supergirl and Maggie, “in private.”

“This dude is in your top secret government organization?” Maggie asked.

“Maggie this is Brainy,” Alex smiled tiredly. “Like I said, eccentric but… trustworthy. Most of the time.” She glanced up at Brainy. “Agent Dox, this is Sergeant Sawyer of the NCPD. She was the one looking after Phoebe Marsh in protective custody and who brought this case to my attention in the first place. Whatever you have to say to me, you can say in front of her.”

“But…” Brainy gestured toward Supergirl with his head.

Alex sighed and turned to Maggie. “Your call.”

“I don’t even think there’s a bag anymore to keep the cat in. Spill it.”

“I’m sorry, Sergeant, I don’t know if that answer was in the affirmative or negative. Perhaps my twenty-first century lingo could use some fine tuning.”

“Nah, you just don’t speak hot cop, right, Danvers?” Maggie winked. “Sure, you can talk in front of Supergirl. Little Danvers, remember, loose lips sink ships, kiddo.”

Supergirl made a motion of locking her lips with a key and then throwing that key away.

“Very well then. Director Danvers requested that I look into any affiliations Mr. Johnson might have in the NCPD. I found one in your precinct, Sergeant.”

“You don’t fucking say.”

“I… I believe I do. He has a cousin by the name of Detective Nicholas Maddow. I don’t know—”

“Fucking Maddow!” Maggie yelled, her fury immediate. “His cousin is that fucking douche canoe Maddow?!” 

“Oh, you do know him then.”

“Yeah, dude thinks he should be Sergeant over me and has his head shoved so far up his ass over it he could be in Cirque du Soleil. Is he the fucker that sold my location out to Johnson?”

“It’s a sound hypothesis, but I would need permission to check his phone and email records.” Brainy looked very pointedly at Alex. 

“Do it,” Alex groaned, sinking back into the cushions and rubbing her closed eyelids (carefully) with a finger and thumb. “Whatever you need to get this guy, do it, Brainy. And make sure Sergeant Sawyer is looped in to everything you find out. She’s got full DEO access. Any questions?”

“Q-Q-Question. You just asked me if there are any questions.”

Alex opened her eyes slowly as her bandaged hand dropped back into her lap. “I did. Is that a problem?”

“I’m not allowed to ask questions.”

“I… fuck. Have you seriously been avoiding questions all this time?” Alex balled her hand into a fist, then painfully extended one finger towards Brainy. “Now. Now you can ask questions. But make sure they’re relevant.”

Brainy sighed with obvious relief. “I’ve had so many questions. Director, would you like me to locate Detective Maddow? If he has incriminating contact with Mr. Johnson, would you like the information to be sent to another precinct? Given the attack on the director of the DEO, would you like the government to step in and press charges so that Mr. Johnson’s uncle, the colonel, can’t step in and put any pressure to protect him? Also, why is Agent Whitby having meals delivered to him in a holding cell?”

“He’s still in - oh for fuck’s sake! Brainy, let Whitby out of holding,” Alex grumbled. Then she pointed to Supergirl. “You get me a drink. A strong one. And you,” she motioned back to Brainy again, “are the brains of the DEO. This is the Police,” she motioned to Maggie. Then she made a motion between them both, pointing from one to the other a few times as she spoke. “Brains, Police, every one of those questions you just asked, discuss. I’m just going to sit here and shut my eyes and wait for this headache to go away. Someone pass me the ice pack again, please?”

“Here you go,” Supergirl said, passing the ice pack over.

“You still keep the ibuprofen in the bathroom cabinet, Danvers?” Maggie asked quickly, heading towards the bathroom.

“Better make it the acetaminophen. Ibuprofen thins the blood, which isn’t the best with a head wound like this,” Alex called after her. Maggie nodded in acknowledgement, then disappeared into the bathroom and the door closed behind her.

“You sure you’re okay?” Supergirl asked gently as Alex tried to shift herself into a more comfortable position, her ribs screaming in agony with every slight movement.

“You want me to run through a list of injuries, just so you know I’m telling the truth?” Alex offered with a patient smile.

“Not really,” Supergirl frowned. And then she considered, before nodding. “Maybe I do.”

“Cracked ribs. Not broken, just cracked. Maggie strapped them up for me.” Alex lifted the hem of her shirt a little to show the bandage wrapped around her midriff beneath. Then she let her shirt drop back into place again as she held up her bandaged wrist. “Just a sprain. I have second degree burns on my left hand and some nasty cuts on the bottoms of my feet and my… everywhere.” Finally she pointed to her face. “Cuts, bruises and mild concussion.” 

“That’s all?” Supergirl asked quietly.

“That’s all,” Alex promised, taking her sister’s hand in her own good hand and squeezing it gently in what she hoped was a reassuring manner. “I’m sure over the next few days a few more bruises will make their presence known, but as I said before, it’s nothing I can’t handle.” 

“If you require anything during your recuperation, Director, do not hesitate to call. I can be here very quickly and have extensive knowledge of human female anatomy.” When Supergirl and Alex chuckled, Alex’s turning into a painful groan that didn’t stop her from smiling, Brainy frowned. “Why are you laughing? Did I make a joke? What’s funny?”

“Danvers Sister inside joke, Brainy,” Alex assured him. “You’ll be the first one I call if I need a man’s help with my anatomy. Now get back to work. We still have bad guys to catch.”

As he took his leave, the bathroom door opened and Maggie stepped back out again. “So I should probably get back to the station, go write up your statement and give one of my own, make sure the bastard doesn’t get out of it on a technicality or something.”

“Maggie,” Supergirl stood and walked over to the sergeant, taking the meds that were handed off. “How are you?”

“I’ll be fine,” Maggie’s smile didn’t reach her eyes as she tried to duck past. Alex couldn’t help but feel like there was more going on and wondered if it had anything to do with the moment they’d had before her sister and Brainy had arrived.

“Hey,” Supergirl held her arms out to Maggie. “C’mere. Bring it in.”

Maggie looked like she wanted to protest, but quickly gave in and stepped into Supergirl’s hug. “Damn I’ve missed these, kid.”

“Me too,” Supergirl smiled as she hugged the other woman. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“I’ll be fine. I promise,” Maggie stepped back and placed a hand on Supergirl’s caped shoulder, then turned her to face Alex on the couch. “Now go be with your sister. She’s a crappy patient. Eyes on her at all times, ya hear? Don’t go letting her be stupid.”

“Pssht, not on my watch,” Supergirl grinned, hands on her hips.

Maggie stopped by the door and glanced back at Alex one last time. “See you around, Danvers. Thanks. For, you know. Everything.”

“Yeah, no problem. I’ll uh… I’ll see you around Maggie,” Alex tried to move, then grimaced in pain and held her side once more. With her bandaged hand, she offered a small wave, wishing that she could have done more. But Maggie was already gone.

And just like that, the room felt all of a sudden that much smaller and that much darker.

_ <><> _

Darkness gave way to a blur which slowly turned into the darkened outlines of the various items of furniture and decorations - or what was left of furniture and decorations - in her living room. Alex blinked slowly as she roused from an exhausted sleep to find herself on the couch, her head propped on a pillow, her feet resting on the stool that made up the L-shaped section of her sofa. Something had awoken her, but she wasn’t sure what, at first, until the sleep gave way to consciousness, and with consciousness came a warning sense.

Noises, over by the door. The front door, with it’s busted lock, that she’d had to prop a dining room chair against to keep it closed for the night and give the illusion that it was still a properly functioning door.

The chair was being scraped backwards, but it must have snagged on something because the door had only opened a small amount and was now stuck. Whoever was on the other side was pushing, but the door refused to budge.

Given the fact that they hadn’t knocked to alert her of their presence, Alex could only assume that someone was trying to break in. Goddamn it, couldn’t she have just a few hours of peace?!

Sitting up slowly and carefully, biting back a wince as her bandaged feet swung off the stool and pressed onto the floor, the various cuts making their presence well and truly known as she put more and more weight onto them, Alex ignored it all. She ignored the aches and the pains, she ignored her screaming ribs, she ignored her throbbing wrist as she pulled the pistol from the coffee table and popped the safety off. Then she padded quickly and carefully across to the door, hesitating for a moment and waiting, every muscle alert, tense, ready to pounce.

As a hand reached in and around the door, fumbled about for a moment and then found the chair, moving it as the door opened further, Alex timed her strike, then pounced and grabbed the wrist of the latest intruder in her apartment, tugging with all her might and turning so that the assailant was pulled off balance and thrown to the floor. She crouched over the shadowy figure on the floor, pressing the gun into their face as she growled “Don’t move, motherfucker.” 

“A-Alex?”

A cold chill ran down Alex’s spine as she heard the very last voice she had expected to hear, and she scrambled and hurriedly pulled herself back to her feet in shock. “Kelly?! Oh my God, Kelly I-I’m so sorry!” She didn’t stop scrambling backwards until she struck the small chair behind her, and then she stood, leaning heavily against the chair, panting, the pistol trembling in her hand as she realised what she’d just done. “Kelly I… I… fuck! I’m so sorry!” Her free hand scrubbed frantically at her eyes, trying to rub the sleep from them as she took several deep breaths to calm herself.

“You scared the hell out of me,” Kelly said as she pushed herself to sitting up, “but you’re alright. I was so worried about you when I saw the apartment on the news, and then you weren’t answering your phone, so I came right home.”

“My, uh… my phone broke,” Alex groaned. “Long story. I’m sorry I attacked you. I wasn’t expecting you back so soon, and when I heard the noise at the door…” Her voice trailed off for a moment, before she took another breath. “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”

“I’m fine. Luckily, my ass provided ample padding.” There was a shuffling sound in the dark, and then the lights flicked on. Kelly was standing by the light switch, looking over the apartment. There had been some cleanup done, but there were bullet holes in the couch. All of the furniture had seen better days. Dirt from a plant that was knocked over was ground into the light carpet, and Alex’s bloody footprints made a very noticeable trail from the kitchen to the door. “Oh, my God. What happened to this place?” 

“Um… a little light redecorating?”

Kelly’s eyes practically doubled in size as she turned to Alex, her gaze traveling up and down Alex’s body. “Alex.” Kelly covered her mouth with her hand, momentarily stunned to silence before she dropped her hand down and stepped closer. “What happened to you?”

“Just a minor disagreement with someone,” Alex shrugged, then winced and her free hand, the one not still holding the pistol, went to her ribs. “It’s not as bad as it looks, trust me. I’m fine. Just a little banged up, but nothing some rest and painkillers won’t fix.”

“You are not fine. This,” Kelly gestured around the crime scene that was Alex’s apartment, “is not fine. You can barely stand up. Come on, sit down and tell me who attacked you. Oh, hold on.” Kelly pushed the door closed and propped the chair in place again. “Okay, now let's get you off your feet… which are also bandaged. Is there any part of you that isn’t broken?”

“Uh… “ Alex had to seriously consider as she tried to move again, which was easier said than done now that the adrenaline had worn off once more and she was left feeling, if possible, even more exhausted than she had been before. “My elbow? Maybe? I’d say my lips but that would be a lie.”

“I’m assuming the DEO has been called about this. Do they know who attacked you and why? Is this about an ongoing case?”

“It’s being dealt with,” Alex spoke through gritted teeth as she staggered over to the couch, then half sat, half fell back into it with a sigh. “The NCPD are dealing with it too. Joint investigation. All being sorted.”

“The police?” Kelly looked around the apartment again. “Were you attacked by a human?”

“Ex-army bastard,” Alex sniffed, shifting and adjusting herself back into a position that was comfy. “Don’t worry, I kicked his ass, but he got in a few lucky shots on the way.”

“This is a few?” Kelly reached out, tracing her fingertips around Alex’s swollen eye, and making Alex wince. “I’d hate to see what you look like when you lose a fight. Is this why you left our date so suddenly?”

Alex opened her mouth to deny it, then thought better of it. Kelly deserved the truth. “Alright, no more lies,” she agreed with a nod. “Though for the record, I didn’t actually lie to you, I just didn’t tell you the whole truth because I couldn’t. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry, but you know I deal with a lot of classified stuff, and I can’t be too careful.” She took a breath, then nodded. “But in answer to your question, yes. He was the reason I had to leave our date suddenly.”

“Oh.” Kelly nodded. “That’s why you’ve been acting odd for the past day or two, been busy with work. You told me work was normal. This doesn’t look normal.”

“Kelly, sit down?” Alex patted the sofa beside her. “Please? I don’t like it when you’re standing over me like that. It makes me feel like I’m being interrogated.”

Kelly sat, her hands fretting together even as one leg jiggled slightly in place. “I’m just upset. I was worried about you, and it looks like I had reason to be.”

“I know,” Alex admitted guiltily. “I understand, and you’re perfectly entitled to be upset. If the tables were turned, I’d feel exactly the same way. But I can explain, I promise. Come here,” she held out her hand - the sprained wrist, rather than her burned hand - and made a slight curling motion with her fingers, encouraging Kelly to give her own hand so that Alex could hold it. Though whether it was to comfort Kelly, or because Alex needed the comfort herself, she wasn’t entirely sure. “Please?”

With a sigh, Kelly slid a little closer and placed her hand in Alex’s. “Fine. Just know that I’m not happy.”

“Understood,” Alex nodded. She thought for a moment about the best place to start, then placed her other hand - the bandaged one this time - over the top of Kelly’s, sandwiching it gently between her two hands. “So when I said the DEO was fine, it wasn’t a lie. We finally caught Roach and there was some doughnut related incident involving my sister, but nothing sinister or out of the ordinary. What happened here… wasn’t to do with work. But it was still classified.” She paused for a moment to consider her next words carefully. “I was helping someone. A witness. I had a witness staying here in protective custody, and the guy who attacked me was the person I was protecting this witness from. He found her because of a leak in the NCPD, that’s why I couldn't say anything before. The fewer people who knew about her, the safer she’d be. Letting her stay here seemed like a good idea at the time. But now my ribs are strongly disagreeing.”

“Is your witness alright?”

“She’s fine. She’s safe. Now that the bastard’s been caught and the leak has been found within the precinct, she can find a new home. Hopefully. Although I’m not sure she has any family left, which is… well it’s just horrible, Kelly. The poor girl is just a child. An innocent child!”

“How old is she?”

“Four and a half.”

Kelly’s eyes widened again, and she whispered, “Jesus.” She nodded and squeezed Alex’s hand. “I’m glad you protected her. That’s who you are.”

“It’s what I’ve done pretty much my whole life,” Alex agreed quietly. “Protect, defend, care for the innocent. Why change the habit of a lifetime now?”

“Because you have a partner now, someone who shouldn't have to come home to this. I respect what you did for that little girl, and I'm trying to be understanding, but no partner would come home to this and understand.”

“That’s not true. Some people do understand.”

"Name one person."

“Maggie.”

“Maggie? Why would you bring up your ex? What does she have to do with all of this?”

Alex froze for a moment, then shook her head and sighed. "Nothing, never mind. I shouldn't have mentioned her.”

“But you did. Her name is the first one that came to mind. Remember what I said about Jung's test? The first thing that comes to mind is meaningful. Now, why did you bring up Maggie?”

“Because,” Alex hesitated, and then sighed again, but this time in frustration. “Because she was here, ok? She was the Sergeant assigned to protect the little girl. Her safehouse got shot up, and she needed a safe place to stay, so I let her stay here because in theory it should have been the last place anybody thought to look for her or the girl. That’s why I said her name. That’s the only reason. No other. I promise. And again for what it’s worth, I promise you nothing happened, either.”

It was Kelly’s turn to sigh. “I know that. I know nothing happened because I know you. You're entirely trustworthy, and you were protecting a child. However, the fact that you feel the need to defend yourself means you were thinking about it. That's what worries me.”

“No, no I wasn’t Kelly, I swear. The thought never even crossed my mind. They stayed one night, and Phoebe had the bed, Maggie had the couch, and I slept on the floor. That was it. And now the bad guys have been caught, and it’s all over.” 

“Okay, okay, so one question,” Kelly turned a bit so she was looking a bit more head-on with Alex, “are you okay with never seeing Maggie again?”

Alex swallowed hard, opened her mouth to reply, and then stopped suddenly as her phone started to buzz and vibrate. Not now! Why did it have to start now? She groaned, and made a vague motion to it with her bandaged hand. “Could you turn that off please? I just need a few minutes without the damned thing going off.”

Kelly glanced around the apartment. “Turn what off?”

“My phone.”

Kelly frowned at Alex then looked around again. Her gaze swept the coffee table. She lifted the phone and turned it over in her hand. The spiderwebbed screen was clearly visible as she made eye contact with Alex again. “Alex, your phone is broken.”

“Fuck,” Alex muttered quietly, rubbing her temple. Then a bit louder she said, “I know. I just… the buzzing. It’s driving me insane. It just won’t stop.”

“Have you been seen by a doctor?” Kelly asked as she dropped the phone back on the table. She held two fingers up in front of Alex. “How many fingers do you see?”

“What are you doing?” Alex frowned. “I’ve only got mild concussion, not brain damage. I’m fine.”

“You’re hearing things.”

Alex should have been grateful that the conversation had diverted away from Maggie and the very awkward question that Kelly had asked, which Alex wasn’t sure she could answer truthfully anymore. But actually, this new topic of conversation wasn’t much better. Because it meant she’d have to admit to hearing things and having hallucinations. And she was too exhausted to be getting into any of that right now. “Look, I’m sorry I scared you, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what was going on, but I’m fine. And you’re back now, so everything’s going to be okay. That’s all that matters right now.”

“Alex I… I don’t want to come home to this.”

“I don’t want you to come home to this either. But it’s not like this kind of thing happens every day.”

“Can you promise me it will never happen again?”

“Kelly, that’s not fair,” Alex frowned. “You know I can’t do that. If someone needs my help, I’m not going to turn them away. And sometimes helping others means that I’m going to get hurt too. It comes with the job.”

“What do I say to your child, our child, when you come home like this or don’t come home at all? Alex, I already lost one partner who was a strong, brave, caring woman, and all I ended up with was a letter that she hoped I would never read.” Kelly closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. “Have you written me one of those letters?”

Alex squeezed Kelly’s hand gently, in what she hoped was a reassuring manner, but her voice failed her. At last she looked away, not able to make eye contact even as she nodded, swallowing hard again. 

“I don’t want to read that letter, Alex. Tear it up.”

“Kelly,” Alex started, then stopped and cleared her throat, before trying again. “You know I can’t do that. Every DEO agent has to have one of those letters in case… you know. I have them for my mom and Kara too.”

“So leave. Leave the DEO. I can get you a job tomorrow at Obsidian. You’ll have better pay, better benefits, and neither of us will have to worry if you’re coming home that night.” Kelly took Alex’s hand again and smiled. “We can have lunch together every day. You’ll make more money. We can buy a place and start a family. Isn’t that what you want?”

“It’s not about the money,” Alex shook her head. “It’s about - goddamn it, shut up!” She snapped, glaring at her broken phone. “Just shut up and leave me in peace!” Taking a deep breath, Alex did her best to ignore the buzzing phone and turned back to Kelly. “My job is the DEO. My life is the DEO. It’s all I’ve known for the past eight year. I help people. I save lives. And that feels good. It’s what I want. I like my job. Hell, I love my job. I don’t want to leave, Kelly and I just - oh for fuck’s sake, seriously?!” Reaching out, Alex snatched up her phone then threw it across the room in the direction of the kitchen where it bounced off the island unit and fell to the floor, still buzzing. “Shut up!”

Slowly, Kelly stood up. “I’m going to call someone for you. The DEO must have an on call doctor. Do you want me to call Kara first?”

“I don’t need a doctor,” Alex groaned, rubbing at her temple with one hand. “I just need you to listen, please? You want me to take a job behind a desk, but I… I can’t do that. And I can’t move to Metropolis either. My life is here, and I know you mean well, but it’s not what I want. I’m sorry, but it’s just not. You’re important to me. So, so important. But my family are important to me as well. Can you understand? I’m not saying any of this to be difficult. That’s the last thing I’d want to do, but I can’t lie to you either, Kelly. I love you.”

“Alex, I love you too, but I love me. Losing one partner nearly destroyed me. I’m not asking you to choose your family over me. If you can’t move to Metropolis, if that can’t happen, fine, we’ll discuss that, but I can’t be in a relationship with someone knowing I could come home to this. I can’t ever get another one of those letters. Don’t you understand that?”

“I do, Kelly. I do understand, but I don’t know what you want me to say. I can’t promise that won’t ever happen, but then can anyone? We’re all mortal. Any of us could die at any moment. Say I did get a nice, safe job in an office somewhere, and one day you were crossing the road and got hit by a car. What then? It’s the same thing.”

“That’s an unforeseeable accident, Alex. I’m not asking you to guarantee me you’ll be invulnerable. I’m asking you to stop throwing yourself into danger, and you’re telling me no. You’re telling me that if I want a relationship with you, it comes with these risks. Is that right?”

“I am who I am, Kelly. You’ve always known it, right from the start. I’ve never kept that from you,” Alex could feel herself welling up with emotion, yet she wasn’t sure if it was anger or sadness that she was feeling now. Or both. “It’s how I deal with things. How I’ve always dealt with things. I protect those I love, and if that means putting myself in harm’s way to do it, then… well I guess I jump first and ask questions after.”

“But you’re the director of the DEO. This is National City. I know there are times you’ll be in combat. I think everyone will be. But I thought your job would be less… physical on a regular basis. I feel like it should be, but you’re choosing to go out there day after day. Can’t you choose to stay safer and make sure you come home?”

“What kind of an example is that setting, then?” Alex frowned. “Asking my agents to go out there and do stuff, just so I can stay behind the walls of the DEO because it’s safe? I would never ask anyone to do something that I am not prepared to do myself, and if I don’t lead by example, then why should I even be a leader in the first place? What right do I have, to keep myself safe when I’m expecting others to go out there and put themselves in danger, just so that I don’t have to.”

“I can’t,” Kelly stood, holding her hands in front of herself, “I can’t do this with you.”

“You’re right,” Alex nodded. “It’s late. Stupidly late, and we’re both tired. Let’s just go to bed, and we can discuss this again in the morning when we’ve both got clear heads.”

“In the morning will your answer be different because what I want from a partner won’t change after a good night’s sleep.”

Alex winced, even as she shook her head. “Nor will mine.”

Kelly took a hesitant step closer. “I love you, Alex. I don’t want to lose you. Give me one reason, any reason, to stay. Tell me there’s a chance.”

Alex hesitated for a moment, then swung her feet down to the ground and pushed herself up, gingerly, onto her feet. She took a moment to make sure she had her balance, before she reached out for Kelly’s hands with both of hers. “Kelly, I love you, but you’re asking me to be someone I’m not.” She glanced across the room to where the phone, broken and no doubt damaged beyond repair as it was, continued to vibrate and buzz incessantly. If anything, it was getting louder and louder. Alex forced herself to ignore it as she looked back at Kelly again. “We can make this work. Somehow.”

“How?”

“I…” Alex glared at the phone briefly, then shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“What are you looking at?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Alex shook her head again. “All that matters is us… and I get the feeling we’re not going to be an ‘us’ for much longer. This feels like we’re breaking up.”

“I’m sorry. That’s not an apology.” Kelly wiped tears from her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too,” Alex nodded, forgetting that she had a split lip and biting it, then wishing she hadn’t. But the tears that came to her own eyes weren’t tears of pain then. Or maybe they were, but not a physical pain. “You’re an amazing woman, Kelly Olsen. You healed me, when I was broken. You… you found me, and you picked me back up and you made me whole again, and I’ll forever be grateful to you for that. I’ve never met anyone else like you and I know that any woman would be lucky to have you.” She managed to smile, despite the fact it was a weak smile, broken by the trembling of her bottom lip as a tear glistened at the corner of her eye. “And an idiot if they ever let you go.”

“Does that make you an idiot?”

“Yeah, yeah it does,” Alex nodded, not even bothering to stop the silently falling tears from trailing down her cheeks.

Kelly nodded, wiping a few more tears from her own face. “Okay. I’m gonna go, but I’m going to call Kara. She can be here fast, and you shouldn’t be alone.” Kelly pressed a gentle kiss to Alex’s lips and caressed her face. “I love you.” She stopped by the door to pull the chair out of the way, turning to look back at Alex, waiting, perhaps hoping Alex would say something, but when Alex remained silent, Kelly left, pulling the door closed behind her, and was gone. 

And just like that, another chapter had come to an unexpected end in the life of Alex Danvers.


	6. Chapter 6

_ “Are you out there? _

_ Do you know me? _

_ Can you feel me? _

_ Can you show me? _

_ Where are you going? _

_ Don't leave me alone _

_ How do I follow you…” _

  
  


A week ago, had Alex heard a phone buzzing, she’d have cursed and angrily vowed that she couldn’t hear it. Nobody else could, so why should she? Yet she’d been plagued by the damned buzzing until it became little more than a constant drone inside her mind. Nagging at her, pushing her to do something that she didn’t want to do. She’d fought back as hard as she could, but in the end, submission had been the only way to stop it. To give in and stop fighting. To accept that maybe, some higher power or being or whatever, actually had a plan for her and the sooner she stopped digging in her heels and just did as she was told, the sooner it would all be over.

That was a week ago.

Now, that same buzzing in her pouch on her belt brought a smile to her face. Partly because this time, she wasn’t imagining it. Everyone could hear it. These phone calls were real. But mostly the smile was because of the news each phone call brought.

Updates on little Phoebe, how she was doing, what she’d been up to each day, what the situation was with her now that she was legally an orphan (the fact that Mr Marsh had adopted her meant that he was recognised as her father, not Cain Johnson, the bastard who would now be serving two consecutive life sentences, plus numerous counts of assault and intended murder, not to mention attempted kidnapping as well). Maggie phoned Alex every day with the updates, and every day Alex found herself anxiously looking at her brand new phone over and over, waiting for it to ring. 

A week ago she would have sold her soul to make the phone shut up. Now she wanted nothing more than for it to ring, and Maggie’s number - freshly reinstated in Alex’s list of contacts that had been transferred to this new phone from the remnants of her old shattered one - to flash up on the screen.

By the time she got home from work that evening and it still hadn’t rung, however, she was starting to get worried. Had something happened? Why hadn’t Maggie called? Should she call Maggie instead? What if something had happened to Phoebe? What if Cain Johnson had somehow worked a deal to get himself free and cleared of all charges, just as he’d done when he was in the military? What if—?

There was a knock at the door, a light, jaunty tune that caused Alex to pause. Carefully walking over to the door, she pulled her sidearm from her utility belt and peered through the peephole.

“You can put the gun away Danvers, I come in peace,” Maggie’s beaming smile shone back at her through the tiny hole in the door.

Relaxing immediately and holstering her weapon even as she pulled the door open, Alex stepped back to let the Sergeant in. “Hey, I was waiting all day for your call. Is something wrong?”

“Nope,” Maggie smiled brightly, her dimples flashing dangerously as she stepped inside, her arms full with an assortment of items that she set down on the kitchen counter. “I just came to give you this, to uh… replace the one that was busted the other day.” She held out a potted white and pale pink orchid. 

Alex shut the door and then walked over to the counter, taking the plant with a smile. “Maggie, you didn’t have to.”

“Hey, you got busted up too, and you kind of saved Phoebe’s life. Not to mention my ass. So yeah, I did have to.” Maggie shrugged. Then motioned to the six pack of beer. “I also brought drinks and food. If you’re hungry?”

“Absolutely,” Alex’s smile widened when she saw the beer, but fell when she saw the pizza box. “That’s going to be some vegan crap, isn’t it.”

“And I thought you knew me better than that,” Maggie tutted as she pulled out a second box from underneath the first, popped the lid and showed Alex the pizza inside with all of her favorite toppings on top.

“Wow,” Alex blinked. “So let me get this straight… you decided not to call me today and instead you dropped by with flowers, food and alcohol. What’s this going to cost me?”

Maggie’s answering smile was dazzling, and Alex knew, right then, that she was in big trouble. Mostly because she’d somehow forgotten how to breath. And her heart was doing some very weird acrobatics beneath her ribcage. Not to mention the butterflies in her stomach were going crazy.

“Shall we?” Maggie jumped up onto one of the bar stools, and after a moment to get her jellied limbs to behave and do as they were told, Alex joined her and grabbed a slice of her pizza eagerly. 

“So, you’re looking a lot better than when I last saw you,” Maggie commented before taking a bite of her own vegan pizza.

Alex had a mouthful so couldn’t immediately talk, and just nodded instead. When she could eventually talk, she said, “Yeah. Healing nicely. Ribs are still being bastards, but hey, they did their job, so I can’t complain. It could have been a lot worse.”

“I should have come back,” Maggie shook her head, her smile fading as she looked down at the slice of pizza in her hands. “Together we could have…”

“If you’d come back, who knows what would have happened to Phoebe,” Alex reassured her gently, reaching out with her left hand, the one she’d grabbed Cain’s gun with and burned during the fight. Thankfully, the blisters had burst, dried up, and mostly healed over now, so she no longer had to keep her hand bandaged. She still kept her right wrist bandaged though because of the sprain, which hadn’t fully healed yet. Maggie glanced at it but didn’t say anything as Alex placed her hand on Maggie’s arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Besides, you got Supergirl here a hell of a lot quicker than I could. You saved my life, Sawyer.”

“Call it even?” Maggie’s smile returned as Alex withdrew her hand and held out her slice of pizza.

“Call it even,” she agreed, as Maggie did the same with her own slice, and they did what had affectionately become known as the “Danvers Toast”, tapping their two slices together.

They ate in silence for a while longer, Alex casting sideways glances at Maggie and grinning, until the Sergeant finally set down her slice of pizza and grabbed a beer. 

“Alright, what is it Danvers?”

“Nothing,” Alex shrugged innocently, reaching for her own beer.

“Nu-uh, that means there’s something. What is it?”

“I was just thinking,” Alex shrugged again, sipping her beer. “I guess I can’t call you Detective Dimples any more.”

“Nope. Now it’s Sergeant Smiles,” Maggie agreed with a big smile to illustrate her point before she took a few gulps of her own beer.

“Nice,” Alex chuckled, ducking her head to avoid Maggie seeing the blush that was making her cheeks so flaming hot, she was amazed they weren’t glowing. If Maggie had noticed, she chose not to say anything, however.

“So, how you holding up?”

Alex blinked, her brows dipping slightly as she didn’t quite understand the question. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you and Kelly. I’m sorry about that, by the way. If I hadn’t dragged you into the whole witness protection thing—”

“That was just the tip of what turned out to be a very large iceberg, unfortunately,” Alex sighed. “Honestly, I’m… I’m okay.”

“It’s okay to not be okay, you know.” This time it was Maggie’s turn to reach over. She placed a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “You were with her for a while. You’re allowed to be upset that you broke up.”

“I guess, I just…” Alex shrugged and leaned one elbow on the counter, laid her head in her hand and set her pizza down. “I wasn’t expecting it to happen like that, is all. I just… I feel terrible that I never told her, but I mean, how could I? The less people who knew about Phoebe, the safer she was, right? It was part of the job. It was classified, so I couldn’t tell her, even though I wanted to. But then she got upset because I got hurt, and she wanted me to leave the DEO so that I’d be safe. I just… I couldn’t do that, Maggie. I couldn’t. It wasn’t fair to ask that of me… was it?”

“Hey, I don’t know Kelly,” Maggie started carefully as she tilted her head, studying Alex closely. “But I do know you. And I know that you will always do what’s right. You are the one person I know, who has the courage to stand up and do what’s right. You run into danger when others run away from it. And that’s what makes you so amazing. If she couldn’t see that, then that’s her loss. Not yours.”

“I could kind of see her point though,” Alex sniffed, feeling unexpected emotions welling as her eyes began to sting with the unshed tears. “I want to be a mom. What kind of a mom willingly throws herself into danger every day? What kind of a mom risks turning her kids into an orphan because of her own stupid, selfish recklessness?”

Maggie reached out and thumbed away a tear gently. “The kind of mom who goes out there day after day after day, fighting to make this world a safer place for her children and their children and their children’s children. The kind of mom who any kid would be lucky to have because it’s not reckless if you’re doing it out of love. A mama bear protecting her cubs isn’t reckless. She’s brave, selfless and fierce.”

“A mama bear?” Alex sniffed again, but managed a smile. 

“I’ll get it made into a shirt for you, so you don’t forget it,” Maggie grinned. 

“From anyone else I’d think that was a joke,” Alex picked up her beer once more. “But you’re going to do it now, aren’t you.”

“Hell yeah,” Maggie picked up her beer as well and tipped the neck of the bottle towards Alex briefly in acknowledgement of her statement before she drank from it. 

"And how about you? You're going through your own breakup too,” Alex ventured after a moment, but Maggie just shook her head.

"We didn’t break up. We drifted apart.” Maggie took another swallow from her beer as she seemed to consider her words. “That's been over for a while. We just made it official. It's different."

“Even so, I’m sorry,” Alex acknowledged, setting her own beer down and picking up a fresh slice of pizza, sensing that perhaps a change of topic was needed. “Speaking of kids, I never got my Pheebs update today. Is everything okay with her?”

“So about that,” Maggie admitted as she ducked her head a little, sheepishly. “It’s kind of why I’m here. I need a favor. For Phoebe.”

“Sure,” Alex nodded readily. “Anything for Pheebs.”

“The thing is,” Maggie set her beer down, but didn’t pick up any more pizza. “They haven’t found any relatives for her yet. You remember I said they’d be getting into second and third cousins before they found someone? Turns out it wasn’t an exaggeration. But because of this, she’s got to go into the system. Little Pheebs will have to go into a foster home, and do you know how many kids are lost in the system, Alex? Too damned many.”

Alex set her own slice of pizza down, then sat up straighter on the stool. “What do you need me to do?”

“I’ve filled out all the forms and such, but you know how these things take time. And it’s time Phoebe doesn’t have, so I was hoping you might be able to pull some strings?” Maggie asked hopefully.

“Wait, what forms? What strings?” 

“You know, you’ve got an in with the President, right? And, you know, Supergirl can just fly to the courthouse and put in a good word… and I hear Little Luthor’s got an army of lawyers. Do you think she might be able to get any of them to hurry things along a little?”

“What forms, Maggie?” Alex asked, her tone more stern now, which made Maggie flinch slightly. 

She glanced up at Alex and offered her an appeasing smile. “Forms so that I can become a foster parent to Phoebe.” 

“You want to foster? You want to become a foster  _ parent _ ?” Alex repeated, not sure she was hearing properly.

“I want to take care of Phoebe, just until they find her relatives,” Maggie shrugged. “Or they don’t. Then, you know…”

“What the hell does that mean?” Alex’s voice was sharper than she’d intended it to be, and Maggie flinched again.

“It means I don’t know. She’s an awesome kid, and I just want what’s best for her.”

“Which is what?” Alex looked at Maggie, one eyebrow raised. “You?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. Would that be so bad?”

“Fuck!” Alex stood up suddenly and paced away a little, both hands running to her hair, which she only now realised was still clipped up in her work style. Pulling the hair clips out furiously, she threw them on the kitchen counter then ran her hands through the longer strands of her hair as they fell in a left parting this time. 

“Alex—” Maggie started, also standing up, but Alex stalked away again, keeping her back to Maggie for a moment as she wrapped her hands around the back of her neck. “Hey, listen—”

“No, fuck you,” Alex spun on the spot sharply, one hand dropping back to her side as the other curled into a fist, one accusing finger pointed in Maggie’s direction. “You left because kids, because becoming a parent was never an option for you. You made that very, very clear. We talked about it over and over, for days, before we broke up, and you were adamant that nothing and no-one would ever change your mind. Yet here you are, two years later, wanting to start a family with this girl, without me?”

“Alex, I can explain—”

“Was it ever about the kids, Maggie? Were they ever really the problem? Or was it just me?”

“That’s not fair, Alex!”

“No, what’s not fair is you making it very clear, two years ago that I had a choice. Either I chose you, or I chose kids. You knew how much becoming a mother meant to me, and yet still you made me choose. That was one of the worst days of my life. I went through hell because of you. And now here you are, two years later, just waltzing back into my life like you belong here, and wanting to be everything that… that I always wanted you to be, but I never, ever thought was possible, and I just… I can’t. Get out. I think you should go. Please leave.”

“Alex, don’t do thi—”

“I said get the fuck out, Maggie!”

Maggie stood rooted to the spot for a moment, her mouth opening and closing but no sound coming out. In the end, she nodded. “Alright. Message received, loud and clear. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.” Picking up her pizza, but leaving the beer and the plant, Maggie headed for the door, hesitating in the threshold and glancing back. “Alex—”

“Go. Please. Just go,” Alex turned her back on Maggie so that she didn’t have to watch her leaving again. It had broken Alex’s heart the last time. It would most likely destroy her now.

As the door closed softly, she let out a shuddering breath, fighting back tears as she walked over to her couch and dropped down into the soft, enveloping cushions of the brand new suite that had replaced her old, bullet shredded one. Almost as soon as she had, the familiar buzzing of her phone started up again. Only this time, Alex wasn’t happy to hear it. 

“Don’t you fucking start again, or I swear to God I will put you in the blender on puree!”

Mercifully the phone seemed to take the hint this time and quietened almost immediately. Alex took several deep, calming breaths to regain control of her emotions, then stood up and went to grab a change of clothes from her closet. After an extra long, extra hot shower to freshen herself up and get out of her DEO uniform, she felt a bit better. But she was still fuming.

Two glasses of scotch later and she finally felt that it was safe enough for her to talk again, so she walked over to her phone where she’d left it on the counter, picked it up and dialled a number, walking back over to the sofa with the phone tucked between her ear and her shoulder as she carried the pack of beers and the now mostly cold but still edible pizza with her, then sat down to make herself comfy as she waited for the call to be answered.

<><>

It was a dreary day in National City. Though the city was usually sunny, perhaps Maggie’s mood was carrying into nature itself. Clouds blotted out the sun, covering the sky in haze, and a light drizzle had refused to abate. Even on the occasional day where they had early cloud cover, the sun would burn that away but not today. Perhaps today there was no reason for sunshine.

Maggie tilted her head back and looked up at the sky, keeping tears back by force of will. When the tiny hand holding hers tugged, she looked down.

“I don’t want to go,” Phoebe said.

Maggie’s heart had been broken before, so she knew that feeling well. Plastering a smile on her face that she didn’t feel, she knelt down to meet Phoebe head on. “I know, kiddo, but I promise it won’t be for long. I filled out a lot of paperwork that’s gonna help you come home with me.”

“Why you gotta do papers? Can’t you just show people your badge?”

“Jeez, I wish. There are people in charge and lots of rules. I gotta follow the rules.”

Phoebe sniffed, her eyes filling with unshed tears. “I don’t like those rules.”

“Me neither.” As the first tear ran down Phoebe’s cheek, Maggie nearly lost it. Giant aliens, murderous thugs, even angry women she could handle, but crying children were apparently her kryptonite. “Hey, I’m going to talk to you every day, and if it’s okay with your new foster parent, I’ll come and see you after work too, okay?”

“Promise?”

“Come here.” Maggie pulled her close. “I promise. I promised I’d keep you safe, and I did. I promise we’re going to be in each other’s lives.” Maggie leaned back enough to hold out a fist. “Team short guy.”

Though her fist quivered, Phoebe said, “Team short guy,” and tapped her tiny fist against Maggie’s.

“Anyway, once your new foster family smells your stinky feet, they’ll be begging me to come pick you up and take you home with me.” That got a giggle, and Phoebe lifted her foot, nearly kicking the kneeling Maggie in the face who recoiled.

“Phew, stinky!” The laughter ceased as a black SUV rolled up, and Maggie stood, gripping Phoebe’s hand again. It was too soon. No matter when it happened, it would be too soon. The way Phoebe retreated behind her leg showed that she agreed.

Then the door of the car opened, and a very familiar form walked around from the driver's side. Wearing skinny black jeans, a green button down, a black leather jacket, and with her red hair hanging loose, Alex Danvers strode up to them in her ass-kicking boots. It would have been enough to take Maggie’s breath away on a good day, and this wasn’t a good day.

“Alex!” Phoebe had pulled away and had run to join Alex as the redhead hit the sidewalk while Maggie was still gaping several feet back. 

“Hey Pheebs,” Alex grinned as she dropped to one knee so she could give the little girl a hug. “How you doing?”

“Alex, I missed you!” 

Maggie just stood back, watching, unsure of what to say. They hadn’t left things on the best of terms… again. It seemed to be a trend.

“I missed you too, Sweetie,” Alex smiled. “And I never did get to read you that bedtime story. I wanted to hear what happened to Turtle, Mouse and Monkey.”

“And Dog the bus!” Phoebe bounced as she spoke. “Will you visit me too? Maggie says she’ll visit me. Then I’ll live with Maggie.”

When Alex made eye contact, Maggie nodded cautiously. Something in Alex’s eyes shifted when their gazes met. It was a slight darkening, a change from the upbeat mood of interacting with Phoebe. Maggie understood the signs of danger well enough, so she nodded. “Danvers.”

“Sawyer,” Alex stood up slowly, then looked around for a moment, before she said to Phoebe, “Have you got all your stuff together, Pheebs? Don’t want to leave anything behind when you go to your new home. I need to have a quick word with Maggie, then I can help you pack if you like?”

“Kiddo, go inside and make sure you didn’t leave any books in my place, okay?” Maggie said.

“I didn’t.”

“But go check. I forgot to look under the couch.”

“I checked.”

“Phoebe,” Maggie sighed heavily, “Alex and I need to speak in private for a few minutes. Please go in the house and make sure you didn’t forget anything. Please?”

Phoebe looked back and forth between Alex and Maggie before hesitantly saying, “Okay.” She left but stopped by the front door of Maggie’s apartment, looked back, watched the two women for a moment, then went indoors.

“Jeez,” Maggie sighed. “She’s going to be a strong woman, but she is an argumentative kid. I wish her foster family well. That kid is going to give them hell. They’ll be begging me to pick her up once my paperwork goes through.”

“Begging’s a strong word, Maggie,” Alex replied. Then she sighed. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get things pushed through any faster for you. I tried. So did Supergirl. But apparently you just can’t rush some things.”

“I shouldn’t have asked you. After all we’ve been through, after the way we ended, to do that to you was awful. I’m the one who should be sorry, Alex. I wasn’t thinking about anything but Phoebe. I certainly wasn’t thinking about you. Anyway, you guys must have helped some because they told me my background check is being reviewed, and once that’s done, someone from family services will do a walk through of my place. It probably won’t be more than a week. I didn’t deserve your help, but thanks.”

“It isn’t about what you do or don’t deserve,” Alex shrugged, then rubbed at her ribs slightly as her face contorted just the tiniest bit. “I don’t want to discuss that. This is about Phoebe and what’s best for her, so let’s focus on that and put our differences aside. For her sake.”

“Yeah, right, sorry and… I’m gonna stop apologizing. Anyway, thanks for coming out today. Talking to you has been one of the highlights of her day. You’ll be happy to know you’ve forever ruined the happy birthday song for her now.” Maggie grinned and shook her head. “I don’t even know what she’s singing half the time anymore. Have you been giving her new lyrics?”

“I may have introduced her to one or two minor changes and new variations to the song. Possibly,” Alex grinned as well. “Just be glad it’s not Christmas. I know a whole heap of Jingle Bells versions that are bound to get me into trouble.”

“They better be clean, Danvers. I know just how dirty that mouth can get.” Maggie smiled in a way that made the innuendo clear. “Don’t go leading that kid down any dark paths, you hear me?”

“I’ll have you know I was a picture of innocence before you came along Sawyer. This,” Alex motioned to herself with one hand, “is all on you.”

Maggie’s gaze ran from Alex's face, across a trim torso that she knew was beautifully muscled from hard work, down long and shapely legs and then back up again. Her dimples popped when her eyes gazed into Alex’s brown ones, enamored of the little flecks of green. “All on me, huh? Those were the days.”

“Shut up, you,” Alex mumbled as she ducked her head, biting her lip, her cheeks colouring with a furious blush.

“Shutting up was never my best thing, not around you.” Maggie took a step forward, taking her within Alex’s personal space. “Look, Alex, I know—” There was a knocking on the window, and Maggie turned to see Phoebe watching them. The little girl held up her hands and shrugged. With a sigh, Maggie signaled for Phoebe to come back outside even as she stepped away from Alex. “If you have anything else you want to say to me, say it fast. We’re about to get company.”

“I just… I wanted you to know that I did what you asked. I pulled strings, I called in favors, Supergirl flew to the courthouse to try and do things her way, I even managed to get a phone call in with Marsden herself. For all the good it did. I really did try my best to get you what you wanted, and I’m sorry that I couldn’t. I also had something I wanted to tell Phoebe as well, but there are some things she shouldn’t hear, and I thought this stuff probably fell into that category.”

“Hey, as far as I’m concerned, we’re more than good, Danvers. I get that you may feel differently. I hope we can be friends again one day.” Maggie held her hand out.

Alex hesitated, but only for a moment before she took Maggie’s hand and shook it. “Why not now? Things are different between us, you’re right. And I don’t like the bombshell you pretty much threw in my lap the other night, but you were doing what you thought was the right thing for Phoebe, and I can understand that. I can respect that, even. So yeah, we’re good Sawyer. Friends?”

“Always.”

They were still shaking hands when Phoebe came skipping out of the apartment. “I found my toothbrush.” She held up a small toothbrush with a panda on the end.

“I told you to pack that,” Maggie said.

“I forgot.”

“I told you three times.”

Phoebe shrugged. “I forgot three times.”

With a heavy sigh and eye roll, Maggie rested her hands on her hips. “Yup, begging me, they’ll be begging me.”

“Like I said before, begging is a pretty strong word,” Alex smirked. “Though I can see I’m going to have my hands full with you, kiddo, aren’t I? You ready? Got all your stuff?”

“I got my toothbrush now.” She mimed brushing her teeth.

Maggie pulled out her cell phone. “They’re late. Not that I should complain, but do you think I should call the agency. These people don’t seem reliable.”

“Maybe they’re not coming,” Phoebe said a bit too eagerly.

“Maybe they smelled your feet already,” Maggie said.

“Maybe they’re already here,” Alex spoke up at last. “Maybe they’ve been here for the past ten minutes or so, and you just didn’t even realise it.”

“Where?” 

While Phoebe looked around, Maggie tilted her head back and locked gazes with Alex. Through the years, Alex Danvers had taken her on an emotional roller coaster, but this was a new loop. Just when she thought she’d seen everything… “Damn. You never cease to amaze, do you, Danvers?”

“Like I said,” Alex shrugged. “I pulled some strings, called in favors. I couldn’t get your paperwork pushed through quick enough, but mine was passed months ago. So, until yours gets finalized, she’s going to be staying with me.”

“I’m going with Alex?” Phoebe asked before Maggie could speak.

“Yup,” Alex nodded. “Although now I’ve heard that your feet smell, I might change my mind.”

“No, they don’t! Smell my feet!” On one foot, Phoebe hopped toward Alex.

Alex lent down and made an exaggerated sniffing noise. “Nope you’re right, they’re all good. Phew, that’s a relief. You had me worried for a moment there, Pheebs.”

“So I can really go with you?”

“C’mere,” Alex motioned as she walked over to the SUV and opened the back door of the car to reveal a child’s booster seat and Hugo and Gigi the stuffed toys waiting inside. “See? These guys missed you, but I’ve been taking good care of them for you.”

For the second time in less than fifteen minutes, Phoebe launched herself into Alex’s arms.

Maggie stood back watching the two embrace. A knot in the pit of her stomach had begun to unwind. Whatever else happened now, Phoebe was safe, and that gnawing fear had eased away. Alex Danvers was many things, and one of them was definitely a safe place. She had been that for her from the moment they’d met, and Alex had been the same for Phoebe.

“I think that’s a yes, Danvers. Looks like you’ve got yourself a roommate.”

“Maggie can visit me, right?”

Maggie’s gaze flashed over to Alex. “Uh, kiddo—”

“She can come for dinner and tubby time, and she can read me bedtime books, right, Alex?”

“Kid, I don’t know, but I’ll call, right, Danvers?” She knew Alex would give her that.

Alex smiled down at Phoebe, then turned and even though she was speaking to Phoebe, looked directly at Maggie as she said, “That’s up to Maggie. She’s welcome to come round as much as she wants. Although if she does, she’ll be needing this.” Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to Maggie. “My new address. It’s only temporary, whilst Phoebe’s with me, but it’s bigger, so she gets her own room.”

“As much as I want?” Maggie stared at the slip of paper in her hand, then her gaze traveled to Alex. She could feel her eyes welling up with the release of the fear and anxiety she’d held in all day, but this time, she didn’t try to stop it as the tears slid down her cheeks. Finally, with a smile that came from within and reached her eyes, she looked down at Phoebe. “Every day. I’ll be there every day.”

<><>

With a bag of groceries in one arm and a jittery preschooler hopping at her side, Alex rattled the keys in the lock of her temporary apartment. When she opened the door, Phoebe was off like a shot and into the bathroom.

“Make sure you wash your hands when you’re done!”

“I know!”

Chuckling at the familiarity, Alex put away the milk and began to chop up vegetables for dinner. Over the past nine days, they’d created a routine that had become something of a dance. Phoebe had preschool during the day, after school activities, and then Alex would pick her up. Usually, they’d have a quick errand to run together, and then they’d come home and either start dinner or it would be waiting for them care of Maggie. 

“Hey,” Alex looked up from her cutting board as Phoebe flopped onto the couch and grabbed the remote. “Let me see your hands.” That resulted in a pair of tiny hands being shaken in the air and Alex’s sigh in return. “Please come here and let me see your hands.”

Alex could practically hear Phoebe’s eyes roll, but the little girl walked over and held out her hands. “See?”

“Hmmm, they’re wet. I suppose soap would be too much to ask.” The answering smile was telling. “Go watch TV. I’ll help you wash up before dinner.”

Phoebe didn’t even make it back to the couch before keys rattled in the lock again, and Maggie appeared with a bag in her hands. “Hey, Happy Friday Eve.”

Alex eyed the bag briefly. “You got groceries?”

“Dessert.” Maggie pulled a delicious looking cake out of the bag and placed it on the dining room table.

“Yummy. Can we eat cake now?”

“No,” Alex and Maggie replied together.

“Come give me a hug, kiddo.” Maggie enjoyed a quick embrace, but there was a look of confusion on her face as she pulled away, examining Phoebe’s hands. “Why are your hands wet?”

“She was playing in the toilet.” Alex grinned.

“Huh. I’ll assume that’s a joke. Anyway, the cake is a celebratory cake. Who wants to hear my good news?”

Phoebe’s hand waved in the air, reminiscent of the lessons she’d learned in preschool.

“Well you brought cake,” Alex grinned as she went back to cutting the vegetables again. “So it’s got to be something good. Let’s hear it.”

“I think it’s pretty good. I heard from my case worker today.” Maggie paused as both Alex and Phoebe stared at her intently. “I’ve been approved. They did the walk through today, and I’m cleared to move this stinky-footed beast into my place in the morning.”

“For real!?”

“Would I joke about this?”

“Woo Hoo!” Phoebe launched herself back into Maggie’s arms.

“Th-the, ahem,” Alex cleared her throat quickly, setting down the knife in case she had an accident as she didn’t entirely trust herself just then. “The morning? That’s…” She took a breath, then forced a smile she didn’t feel. “That’s great, Maggie. Sooner than I was expecting, but it’s great. Congratulations.”

“Yeah, I didn’t want to say anything until I knew for sure,” Maggie said over Phoebe’s shoulder as she hugged her. “I knew things were looking good, but I didn’t know it was quite this good. When they asked if they could get into my place today for a walk through, I didn’t realize it was this walk through. I’m glad I took my unmentionables off the bedroom floor.”

Phoebe broke off the hug and asked, “What are unmechables?”

“Shhh… You can’t mention them. Anyway, great news, huh?”

“Yeah,” Alex nodded, looking down at the chopping board as she bit her lip, though she didn’t pick the knife back up again. “Yeah it-it is. Really…. Great. Really…” Her voice trailed off quietly as she took another deep breath, then once again with a forced smile that she most certainly didn’t feel, she looked back up. “Well, dinner’s going to be a while yet. How about you entertain the urchin, and I’ll come join you when I’ve finished here?”

“Sounds good. You want to tell me what happened at school today, kiddo?”

“A bird got in the classroom!”

“No way!”

“It flew all around, and kids were yelling and screaming. Then it went poop on the floor.”

“Eeeew.”

As Maggie and Phoebe moved to the couch, Phoebe’s hands animatedly gesturing as she explained about the bird whilst Maggie nodded and made encouraging noises and comments each time the young girl paused for breath, Alex continued making the dinner, trying her hardest to put on a smile every time one or both of them looked over, or she was included into their conversations. It was hard. It was perhaps the hardest act she’d ever had to put on because not only did she have to convince Phoebe and Maggie that everything was great and she was happy for them, but she had to convince herself, too. And that was perhaps the hardest part of it all.

When dinner was ready, Maggie helped Phoebe to wash her hands whilst Alex set the table, and then the three of them sat down together, and once again Alex faked her way through the meal with a smile and even some laughter at the appropriate times, depending on the discussions being had. Sometimes the laughs were fake, sometimes they were genuine. Sometimes she couldn’t help but retort with some witty banter of her own at one of Maggie’s smart comments, which only made Phoebe laugh even harder.

After dinner came the cake, and despite both Alex and Maggie’s joint best efforts, Phoebe still ended up wearing half of it, though neither of them were going to say anything. She was a child, she was excited, she was having fun. They weren’t going to discourage any of that.

“Look at the state of you,” Alex finally conceded defeat at trying to keep the napkin tucked under Phoebe’s chin. “I think we’re going to need extra soap in the bath tonight.”

“More bubbles?!” Phoebe exclaimed excitedly.

“Looks like it,” Alex nodded. “Come on then, tubby time.”

“I haven’t picked out my books for bed yet!”

“And with the state of those hands, you’re not going to either.”

“But Aleeeeex!” 

“No buts, Young Lady.” Alex stood up, then seeing Phoebe’s pout, sighed. “Ugh, that’s almost as lethal as Kara’s. Alright, how about this? You get yourself squeaky clean in the tub, and Maggie can pick some books to read to you in bed, huh? Sound fair?”

“Yup,” Phoebe nodded happily. Alex saw her mouthing something to Maggie and holding up five fingers, but she chose to ignore it as she herded the girl into the bathroom and made her sit on the closed lid of the toilet so that she couldn’t put cake covered hand prints everywhere whilst Alex ran the water. She made sure to pour in just a little bit more bubble bath than normal, creating the extra bubbles as promised.

“Phoebe, the water’s filthy already!” Alex exclaimed after only five minutes of the little girl being in the tub. Phoebe giggled and carried on playing with her toys, and once more Alex forced a smile as she tried not to think about tomorrow. Or the fact that this was going to be her last night as Phoebe’s foster parent.

She’d known this day was coming. She’d known from the start that it was only going to be temporary. She and Maggie had discussed this. She’d known that little Phoebe wouldn’t be a permanent part of her life. But just because she knew it didn’t mean she had to like it.

“Alex?” Phoebe’s voice dragged her out of her thoughts and back to the present.

“Huh? Sorry Pheebs, what’s up?” Alex smiled again as she picked up one of the tea cups so that Phoebe could pour water into it from her teapot. 

“What’s wrong?”

The question was unexpected and caught Alex off guard, so it took her a moment to find her voice. “Nothing,” she flashed a smile as if to illustrate her point. “Well, nothing except the color of this water. How did you get so dirty?”

Normally, this would have set off Phoebe to laughter and joy about making a mess, but she only stared up at Alex and asked, “Then why do you look sad?”

“I… ” There it was again, another unexpected question that totally disarmed Alex. “I’m not. You’re going to live with Maggie. That’s great. She’s happy. You’re happy. I’m… happy.”

“You don’t look happy.”

“Jeez. It’s complicated,” she admitted at last, her forced smile faltering just that little bit. “But none of that matters. What matters is that you’re going to go with Maggie tomorrow, and you’re going to have so much fun. It’s where you belong, and it’s going to be great. I’m happy for you both.”

Phoebe nodded and went back to playing with her toys for a moment. The tea set had now been abandoned in favor of the collection of various sized and colored rubber duckies, which she lined up along the side of the tub, then knocked into the water one after another. Then she took the biggest of the ducks, submerged it beneath the water and then let it pop back up again.

“You’re happy with Maggie too.”

It was such an innocent remark, but where the other comments and questions had disarmed Alex, this one floored her completely. She had no answer, couldn’t even find a place to start, could only stare wide eyed as the little girl, oblivious, carried on playing with her toys.

“I heard my name,” Maggie’s voice suddenly cut through the silence as she appeared in the doorway, grinning impishly, those damned dimples on full display. “You two talking about me behind my back?”

Alex stood up quickly. “I-I need to check my, um… emails. I need to check my emails. Can you-?” She hurried from the bathroom quickly, needing to escape before the four walls closed in on her and suffocated her. She needed air, and space and time to get all these damned thoughts into some kind of logical order in her mind.

When Maggie found her some time later, she was taking in the views from the balcony. The air had helped, but her thoughts were still a jumbled mess and she honestly had no idea where to even start.

At first she didn’t even hear Maggie approach. Not until a beer was held out gently in front of her. Alex startled at the sudden appearance but overcame the shock quickly and took it gratefully. “Thanks. Is Phoebe alright?”

“She’s asleep at last,” Maggie moved to lean on the railing beside Alex so she could look out at the view of the city as well. “It took five books though. She may have been a tiny bit excited and had a bit too much sugar, but we got there in the end.” 

Alex nodded but said nothing as she sipped at her beer.

“Alex, can we talk?”

“It’s a free country.”

Maggie sipped her own beer for a moment, and although Alex’s eyes remained firmly on the cityscape spread out all around, she could feel Maggie’s gaze on her. It was taking every ounce of willpower she had not to turn and look right back.

“Look, Danvers, what you did for Phoebe was… I don’t even have words. And I know this is going to be hard on you, letting her go now, but this isn’t goodbye. Anytime, any day, every day, come over. She wants you in her life. You mean the world to her.”

“And what about you?” Alex risked a sideways glance, then wished she hadn’t.

“Of course I want you there too. You’re amazing with that kid.”

Alex shook her head and muttered something under her breath before taking a long gulp of the cool beer, though if she was being honest, it was doing absolutely nothing for her except providing her with an excuse. An excuse to keep her hands busy so they didn’t fidget. To keep her mouth busy so she didn’t say things she really shouldn’t.

“What was that?”

“Nothing,” she shook her head, studiously refusing to turn to Maggie. 

But Maggie was having none of it, not accepting the dismissal for an answer. “Come on, Alex, talk to me. It doesn’t take a detective to see that you’re hurting. Tell me what’s wrong?”

“Everything, okay?” The beer bottle slammed onto the railing a little harder than Alex had intended it to. She glanced back inside quickly to make sure she hadn’t woken Phoebe, took a moment to calm herself, and then tried again, keeping her voice quiet this time. “The last nine days with Phoebe have been everything I ever wanted. This is what I want. I want to come home to this every day. I want kids. I want… It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that I had it all. For nine days, I had it, and now I’m losing it again and… it hurts. Okay? It just hurts.”

“Losing Phoebe?”

“Everything.”

“Alex, I get it. Really I do.”

“No, you don’t, Maggie. And I’m not sure you ever will.” Alex took a deep breath, then sighed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”

“It’s fine,” Maggie nodded, a patient smile on her face. She reached out a hand gently. “Maybe I do get it more than you think. I’m not the one who walked away from us. Alex—”

Alex pulled her hand back, withdrawing before Maggie could touch her, and placed some distance between them. Her emotions were a jumbled mess with everything that had happened recently and the last thing she needed was one more emotional upheaval. “Don’t. I’m… I’m not in a good place right now. The past few weeks have been a whirlwind, and my heart feels like yet again, it’s cracking open. Every time I think I’m finally healing, starting to move on, fix myself, something else happens, and it cracks wide open again. I… I don’t know what I want right now.” 

“Okay,” Maggie nodded again, then took a sip from her beer as she turned to look back out over the city. “Then what do you need from me?”

“I need… “ Alex started, then stopped. She thought long and hard about what she truly wanted, right then and there, in that moment. “I need time. I need time to figure out what I'm feeling. I need time to get over Kelly. I need time to get right with myself, and… and I need Phoebe in my life."

"Done, done, done and done. Anything else?"

Alex, despite her better judgement, looked back at Maggie again, and as their eyes met, she could feel the weight of everything unasked and unspoken, weighing itself down between them. She shook her head, looking away again. “I don’t know.”

"Well, you let me know when you do. I'm not going anywhere and neither is that kid. We'll be around."

Despite everything she was feeling, Alex couldn’t help one final glance in Maggie’s direction. “Promise?”

In answer, Maggie held out her fist. “Team Short Guys.”

Alex just stared at Maggie’s fist, then shook her head again. “I’m too tall, remember?”

“Nah, not now, you’re not. After what you did for Phoebe - for us both? I’m making you an honorary short guy.” 

“Gee thanks,” Alex replied, though she couldn’t keep back the smile this time - the first genuine one she’d managed since finding out the news that this was her last night with Phoebe - and bumped her fist against Maggie’s. “Alright fine. Team Short Guys.”

  
  
  



	7. Chapter 7

_ “Into the unknown.” _

Fifteen Months later…

The afternoon sun was shining into the classroom as little Phoebe made her way to the front, shuffling her little cardboard box nervously in her hands. When she reached the front, she stood on the small X that Mrs Dawson had marked out on the floor for them all to stand on when it was their turn, then she turned to face her classmates, took a deep breath and remembered the carefully written dialogue she’d practiced so hard to remember.

“My name is Phoebe Sanvers. It used to be Phoebe Marsh, but Mommy and Daddy Marsh went up to Heaven, and I got two new mommies instead. That’s why I’m called Sanvers. Mamá’s name is Sawyer and Mommy’s name is Danvers, so they put them together and got Sanvers. I like Sanvers. And I love my Mommies, and I’m the luckiest girl in the world to have two of them. I should have three, but my other Mommy and my Daddy are in Heaven, and they’re looking after my goldfish Bubbles. This is Bubbles.” She reached into her box and pulled out a crayon drawing of a fish that she’d done, with some help. “And that’s my Mommy and Daddy with Bubbles. They’re all on a cloud in the sky.”

Mrs Dawson stepped forward and took the picture, carefully sticking it up on the board, beneath the words “My Family”, the subject of their show and tell session today.

Phoebe waited for her to do this, then carried on.

“My Mamá Maggie is a police sergeant. She chases bad people and locks them in jail so they can’t hurt anyone. She speaks Spanish and is teaching me. She rescued me from the bad man who hurt my Mommy and Daddy Marsh. I feel safe with my Mamá. This is her.” She reached into her box and pulled out another drawing that she’d done, this time of Maggie beside a car with a blue square on top, blue lines coming from the square to show that it was flashing. This was also stuck up on the board with the picture of Bubbles the fish and Phoebe’s birth parents. 

“My Mommy Alex is a Feral Agent and she works for the FIB. I think. Mamá calls her a word all the time, but I’m not allowed to say that word, so I have to say she’s a bad butt, and this makes Mommy laugh. I’m not sure why Mommy has a bad butt, but it makes her really, really good at her job. She also catches bad people, and she works with Supergirl. This is my Mommy and Supergirl.”

Again, Phoebe pulled out another crayon drawing of Alex and Supergirl this time, and there were several gasps from the children in the class.

“You don’t know Supergirl!” A boy called Tommy called out. 

Phoebe scowled at him. “Yes I do! She’s really, really nice, and she comes round my house all the time and shares my ice cream! She flies me to school sometimes if Mommy and Mamá have to work.”

“Do not,” Tommy replied.

“Do too!”

“Do not!”

“Do too!”

“Not!”

“Yes!”

“No!”

“Alright class, let’s settle down. Thank you Phoebe, for that wonderful presentation.” Mrs Dawson said. “I’ll remind all of you that we take turns and use our manners. We’re all friends here, and we speak to each other with the same words we want people to use to us no matter—” There was a knock on the window, and all heads turned. “I… I… Supergirl?”

Smiling brightly, Supergirl hovered outside the window and waved. Then she pointed to the window before miming a window opening and closing with both hands.

In a haze, Mrs Dawson stumbled over to the window, opening it. “Oh, goodness, you’re Supergirl.”

“Last time I checked,” Supergirl replied as she glided in through the open window and landed softly on the floor even as every child rose from their seat and stared, mouths agape. Supergirl smiled and nodded while she practically bounced to the front of the classroom. “Hey, Pheebs, sorry I’m late. There was a pile-up on the highway. Heroing comes first. So, this is your classroom, huh? Neat.”

“You’re here!” Phoebe launched herself into Supergirl’s arms and whispered, “Thank you, Aunt Kara. I love you.”

“Love you too, Titch,” Supergirl whispered back. The hug ended, and the hero looked out at the assembled children. “So, are you going to introduce me to all of your friends?”

Almost immediately, Supergirl was surrounded by children clamouring to get her attention, asking her questions and trying desperately to be the first to ask the superhero something. 

Mrs Dawson worked desperately and eventually managed to regain some semblance of order in the classroom. So, standing next to Phoebe, Supergirl waited in front of the class, hands on hips in her full on super posing as she looked at the excited children and asked, “Alright guys, I have a few minutes to spare, so who’s got questions?”

Immediately a sea of hands shot into the air. Supergirl glanced down at Phoebe, who grinned and gave her two big, mischievous thumbs up.

<><>

  
  


Meanwhile, in a house across town, Alex was fighting a furious battle to the death on the first floor.

“Goddamn it, you son of a bitch,” She growled furiously through gritted teeth. “I did not take the entire day off, just to spend it trying to - Argh!”

“Uh oh,” Maggie appeared in the doorway, a german shepherd on a lead beside her. “I heard cursing. What’s up?”

“Part A was meant to go into Part D there whilst Parts C, F and G slotted into the back there, but I’ve only gone and put Part B there instead and slotted G into C and F where B should be! And don’t even get me started on Part fucking E!” Alex exclaimed, snatching up the instruction leaflet and waving it about in frustration.

“Babe, I said I’d take care of it as soon as I’d walked Gertrude. Chill,” Maggie grinned as she unclipped Gertrude’s lead and let the huge dog go lumbering off, no doubt to find a patch of sun to flop down in and sunbathe, as she was known to do. Setting the lead aside, she stepped into the room. “Give it here. I’ve got this.”

“Good,” Alex ran a hand through her hair in exasperation. “Because I was about five seconds from throwing this damned thing out the window.”

Maggie crossed the room in a few short strides and crouched down to take hold of Alex’s face, as the redhead sat on the floor in the middle of the room, stroking one thumb gently over Alex’s cheek. “I said I got this. Okay? You need to chill, remember your blood pressure. Go sit down and supervise for a bit. Let me do all the hard work.”

“It’s fine, Mags, I got—” Alex started, but was cut off by a sharp look from Maggie.

“Danvers, sit. I’m not going to tell you again.”

Alex smirked and at last did as she was told, getting up from the floor, albeit with a helping hand from Maggie, then going to sit on the only chair in the room, picking up her bottle of water to take a sip, even as she said “Yes Ma’am.”

Maggie picked up the screwdriver and grinned. “You know I love it when you say that?”

“Yeah?” Alex returned with a mischievous glint in her eye.

“Yeah,” Maggie agreed. Then she lifted up one finger and wagged it in Alex’s direction. “But not right now. We promised Pheebs we’d have her room finished before she got home today. Then we can start on the other room tomorrow and unbox the last of our stuff.”

“I know, I know,” Alex nodded, then sighed. “I was just hoping to get this done before we have to go.”

“Relax, we’ve got plenty of time,” Maggie shook her head as she ducked out of the room, then came back a few moments later with a power drill and the screwdriver head attachment. “Now where was this part meant to be?”

“I don’t know,” Alex shook her head, twisting the cap back onto the bottle of water and setting it down. “I kind of got lost, somewhere. Maybe I missed a step or something.”

“How is it you can lead several teams of agents simultaneously, coordinate extremely advanced tactical raids and missions… yet you can’t follow instructions to put together a child’s wardrobe?” Maggie challenged with a smirk. Alex could feel her cheeks flushing a little red as she conceded to this particular point.

“They’re… difficult to follow.”

“They have pictures.”

“They… just shut up and fix it for me, please?”

“See what happens when I leave you alone for five minutes?” Maggie smirked as she made short work of unscrewing the pieces with the power drill, then set about rejoining them the correct way, whilst Alex dutifully sat and ‘supervised’.

“Hey, do you think Kara made it to school on time? I saw on the news that she was hung up with that accident on the highway. With all she does, you don’t think it was an imposition asking her to drop in for Pheebs’ presentation, do you?” Alex asked after a while, taking another sip from her water and watching as slowly and steadily, a small wardrobe began to take shape before her eyes.

“Are you kidding?” Maggie’s voice floated up from somewhere behind the half built wooden construction. “Little Danvers probably loves all the attention! She’ll be in her element.”

And right on cue, Alex’s phone pinged in her back pocket. Reaching for it, she pulled it out then unlocked the screen to find a picture waiting for her of a beaming Supergirl surrounded by a class of excited schoolchildren, Phoebe right in their midst with the biggest smile Alex had ever seen on her face.

The second image was of just Supergirl and Phoebe, the hero holding the little girl in one arm proudly as they both held up their other arms in a ‘power pose’.

“Mags, come look!” She held the phone out eagerly as Maggie’s head appeared round the side of the wardrobe. Then she came over to have a closer look.

“We’re framing that,” She said as soon as she saw the picture.

“Are you kidding? We’re getting it blown up on a canvas and hung above her bed.” Alex gazed at the photo of her sister and her daughter for a moment longer, then sighed contentedly and tucked her phone away again.

As Maggie went back to building again, there was a soft chirrup from the doorway and Alex glanced over to see an inquisitive cat peering inside.

“Hey Link,” she bent down and made a little motion with one hand to call the cat over, along with a few kissing sounds. The silver tabby trotted in and rubbed himself around her arm then pressed himself against her legs, purring loudly. She invited him up onto her lap and he jumped up nimbly, nudged her cheek with his head, still purring affectionately as she made a big fuss of him.

As he turned in several circles before settling down onto her lap, still purring away and enjoying her scritches just behind his ears, Alex’s eyes drifted around the newly decorated room. Maggie and Kara had done all the painting, and most of the walls were ‘Elsa blue’ as specifically requested by Phoebe herself, except for the one wall behind her bed which was lilac, whilst on the wall opposite her bed, Kara (who had the art major) had painted a Frozen mural with all the characters plus Elsa’s ice palace and a few other things from the movie as well. It was, after all, Phoebe’s favorite movie. 

With a bit of luck after the last of this furniture was built, Phoebe might just end up with the best bedroom a little girl could ever wish for. 

Especially as Eliza had somehow managed to find a pair of ice blue curtains with white snowflakes on them, that fitted the theme perfectly, and even Lena had come up trumps with a small crystal chandelier that looked exactly like the one that hung in Elsa’s ice palace. The young CEO refused to say where she’d found it, and Alex had the sneaking suspicion she’d had it commissioned especially, but it was very much appreciated by the five year old, regardless.

It took Alex a moment to realise that Maggie had said something. Her mind had started to wander and Link’s purring had lulled her into a sort of daydream trancelike state, meaning she’d heard the voice but not the words. Turning apologetically to Maggie, she offered a smile. “Sorry, what was that?”

Maggie crouched down in front of Alex. “I asked what you were thinking about. You were out of it. Like ‘outer space’ out of it.”

“I was just thinking,” Alex shrugged. 

“Careful. Don’t hurt yourself.”

“Oh ho, you did not just say that, Sawyer!”

“Oh I think I did, Danvers,” Maggie’s dimples deepened as she grinned wickedly. Before Alex could retaliate, however, Maggie held up her hands in front of herself as she stood back up. “Hey, don’t start, or we’ll never make it to the appointment on time.”

“Ugh,” Alex gently shooed Link off her lap and he jumped up onto the windowsill instead, his fluffy tail curling around him as he sat gazing at the outside world beyond. “I hate it when you’re right. But this isn’t over.”

“Nope,” Maggie agreed. “Just on hold for now. Come on, I’ll drive. You’re starting to flag.”

“I am a little,” Alex agreed with a nod as she stood up, stretched a little then pulled out her phone. “Let me just catch Kara up and then I’ll meet you at the car.”

“Don’t take too long.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Alex shooed Maggie from the room with a grin, then sent a quick text to her sister.

_ Alex: “Hey, when you’ve finished playing with the kids, I’ve got a job for you.” _

It took a few moments, but eventually the little dots appeared to show that her sister was replying.

_ Kara: “I just made Phoebe the coolest kid in the whole entire school. Everyone wants to be her friend now.” _

_ Alex: “I’m sure she’ll appreciate it. How about you make yourself the World’s Coolest Aunt, too?” _

_ Kara: “I thought I already was?” _

_ Alex: “Wanna earn some extra brownie points?” _

_ Kara: “Only if they’re chocolate.” _

Alex chuckled, even as she rolled her eyes. 

_ Alex: “Alright fine, I’ll pick you some up from the store on the way home. But only if you get over here and finish building the furniture in Phoebe’s room. Mags and I promised we’d get it done, but we’ve got the appointment soon and who knows how long it’s gonna be.” _

_ Kara: “Oh! Good luck! Make sure you tell me how it goes!” _

_ Alex: “Nah, we figured we’d tell everyone else and leave you guessing.” _

_ Kara: “Mean” _

_ Alex: “Are you pouting?” _

_ Kara: “No” _

_ Alex: “Bet you are” _

_ Kara: “Double mean” _

_ Alex: “That means I’m right. Please Kara? Do it for Phoebe?” _

_ Kara: “Alright, fine. Then I promised I’d take her for ice cream after school, if that’s cool with you?” _

_ Alex: “Of course it is. Have fun. See you guys later xx” _

_ Kara: “Later! Xx” _

After putting her phone back into her pocket again, Alex grabbed her jacket, quickly washed her face to freshen up a little, gave Gertrude a large ham bone to keep her happy and out of trouble whilst they were out, then locked up and went to find Maggie waiting in the car which she’d reversed out of the garage and was now sitting in the driveway. 

Climbing into the passenger seat, Alex smiled at the other woman, who smiled back.

“All set?”

“I think so,” Alex nodded.

“Ready to find out?”

A hand dropped to Alex’s gently rounded stomach and she nodded. “As I’ll ever be. The question is, are you ready?”

Maggie reached out and placed her own hand over Alex’s. “Yeah. Yeah I think I am. It took me a long time to realise it - too long in fact. But I think I’m finally ready to become a mom.”

“What do you mean become a mom? You are one already,” Alex took Maggie’s hand in hers and raised it to her lips, kissing the back of Maggie’s knuckles lightly. “And you’re an amazing one too.”

“I just… I can’t help but wonder sometimes if we could have had all this sooner. You know, our happily ever after, and all that. With the kids and the house and-”

“Hey,” Alex turned in her seat. “We might have had all this sooner, or we might not. We don’t know what the Universe has in store for any of us. All we can do is make the most of the here and now. And right here, right now, I am so very in love with you, we have a daughter and we may have a son soon. Or another daughter. Either way, they will be loved. And we’ll be a family. We have a dog. We have a cat. Look at how many firsts we’ve already crossed off our list, and there’s still so many left to do. To me, that is all that matters. Not the past, not the future. Just us. Here and now.”

“You getting soft on me, Danvers?” Maggie smiled fondly, but Alex could see the glint of a tear in the corner of Maggie’s eye, so reached out and gently brushed it away with the pad of one thumb.

“Always, Sawyer.”

Maggie set the car into drive, but still didn’t move. After a moment, she put it back into neutral again and turned to Alex. “I was wrong.”

“Okay… about what?” Alex ventured carefully.

“About not wanting any of this. I was so wrong. How could I not have wanted it? The... the house, the kids, the happy families…?”

“Mags, I—”

“Once again you changed my mind, Alex. Just like you did on so many things before. You changed me, for the better. Nobody else has ever done that, and nobody else has ever changed my mind before. Nobody but you.”

“And I promise I will keep on doing that, over and over, for as long as you’ll let me,” Alex promised sincerely, feeling a lump welling in her throat, but managing to just about speak around it. 

Maggie smiled and held up her left hand, the engagement ring glittering in the sunlight that shone through the car window. “That’s why I’m wearing this, right? Sanvers forever?”

“Sanvers forever,” Alex laughed, palming away a tear of her own then leaning in to kiss her  fiancée. “Be who we are.”

“Kiss the girls we wanna kiss,” Maggie agreed as she broke the kiss with a fond smile, finally setting the car into drive again and pulling out of the driveway. “Come on, let's get to that ultrasound.”

“Yes Ma’am,” Alex chuckled as she pulled her shades from the passenger seat visor and put them on, looking towards the distance as the pair of them started off into the unknown, together at last.


	8. Bonus Chapter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A routine mission has a less than routine ending that will call into question the direction of the otherwise stalled relationship for Maggie and Alex. Phoebe proves just how observant she is and earns herself a new nickname. This takes place a few months after chapter 6 but before chapter 7.

The view through the binoculars didn’t provide any sign of their targets. For the last hour, Alex had watched the same empty alley, observed the same dumpster, broken crate, and industrious rat scavenging for pizza without anything more exciting happening. Sitting back on her haunches, the hand holding the high tech DEO device dropping into her lap, she let out a sigh. This was always the bit she hated the most about any mission, the waiting. The sitting around, waiting and not knowing when it would be time to suddenly spring into action. Still, at least she was out here with her agents instead of standing around waiting back in the DEO with Brainy jabbering in her ear and driving her insane. That was something.

After a moment, she raised a hand and touched her earpiece. “Brainy, any sign on the scanners or satellite images?”

_ “Negative, Director. I thought there might have been some cause for concern over on the corner of Southport Way and West 28th Street, but Agent Vasquez was most insistent that the feline creature was just an innocent bystander, so it would appear that it was a false alarm.” _

“Alright, well stay vigilante. Hopefully, it won’t be much longer. In the meantime, all teams, comm check.”

As a relay of voices came back to her, each agent once again routinely confirming their comms were working and that they were in position, she counted off each agent in her mind to make sure none were unaccounted for.

The last three times she’d done this, all had been well. But this time?

A hand raised to her ear again as soon as she realised one voice was missing. One member of the team hadn’t checked in. “Supergirl? Supergirl? Does anybody have eyes on Supergirl?”

This time a relay of negative confirmations came back to her, and she stood up sharply, the binoculars in one hand, raised to her eyes again as she surveyed their surroundings, her other hand still to her ear. “Supergirl? Supergirl?! Come in Supergirl! ”

“What? What? Did I miss it?” Supergirl’s voice let Alex breathe out a sigh of relief, even as she lowered the binoculars again and turned to face her sister who was just touching down on the rooftop where Alex had stationed herself, a box of a dozen doughnuts in one hand and an already half eaten doughnut in the other.

“Seriously?! Now? You had to eat now?” Alex eyed the box incredulously. 

“When I’m nervous I get hungry,” Supergirl shrugged apologetically before taking another large bite of the doughnut in her hand.

“You-” Alex scowled as she stalked forward “-are always hungry! And since when has anything like this ever made you nervous?”

“Um, since they may or may not be transporting a truckload of stolen kryptonite,” Supergirl pouted. 

Alex found she couldn’t really argue with that, so conceded to this particular argument. “Yeah well, little heads up next time before you go gallivanting off, perhaps?”

“I wasn’t gallivanting,” Supergirl pouted. Then she held out the box to Alex. “Doughnut?”

Alex huffed as she stalked past Supergirl so that she could go and check on the view from the other side of the rooftop. “You know I don’t eat sugar in the middle of the day.”

“Right,” Supergirl nodded. Then shrugged. “Oh well, more for me. So how’s it going? Still no sign of them yet?”

“Nope,” Alex grumbled again as she stalked back to her original spot and crouched down once more, only to have to stand a moment later as her phone buzzed in the pouch of her belt, and she fished about for a moment before finally she was able to retrieve it and glance at the message. 

She didn’t even realise she was smiling until Supergirl appeared beside her and nudged her gently with an elbow. “I know that smile. You’ve been smiling that smile a lot lately. That was a message from Maggie, right?”

“It was about Phoebe,” Alex forced a straight face as she jammed her phone back into the pouch on her belt again. But the straight face didn’t last long before the smile crept back again. “I’m picking her up from school this afternoon, and she’s staying at my place for the weekend.”

“What?” Supergirl beamed. “That’s great! Awww, sleepover time! I love Phoebe. She’s adorable! Can I bring my Disney collection?”

“Uh, who says you’re invited?” Alex retorted. Then she laughed. “Yeah okay, we can have a movie night with popcorn and sweets and blankets and - ugh, is it sad that I’m actually really excited? I can’t wait!”

“It’s not sad at all,” Supergirl grinned, sharing her sister’s enthusiasm. “I think it’s amazing what you and Maggie are doing for that little girl.” She nudged Alex again with an elbow. “And speaking of Maggie, you two have been seeing each other every day for months now. What’s going on? Enquiring minds want to know.” 

###  "Enquiring minds should stay focused on the mission." 

"Oh, come on. Tell me!” There was that damned pout again. Alex turned away and raised the binoculars to look through them once more, if only to give herself an excuse not to look at the pouting Kryptonian beside her. 

“Are you two dating? You  _ are _ dating, aren't you!" There was a loud gasp from Supergirl, and Alex rolled her eyes. "How could you and Maggie start dating again and keep that from me? It's your sisterly duty to tell me about that. I'd tell you if I started dating someone." 

Even as the binoculars lowered once more, Alex raised an eyebrow at her sister, giving her a sideways glance. “Are you sure about that?”

Supergirl opened her mouth, no doubt to protest, but then her brows furrowed in confusion. “Huh? Wait, what?”

“Never mind,” Alex shook her head quickly. “Anyway, we’re not dating. We’re just… I don’t know. We both have feelings still, but there’s a lot we both have to sort out, I guess. We talked about it when Maggie took custody of Phoebe, but I think we’re both scared that if we move too fast, we’ll ruin this - whatever this is that we have going on now. It’s good. It’s nice. Her and Me, looking after Phoebe. We don’t want to ruin it. Especially as Phoebe is involved now. It’s more than just us being hurt we’ve got her to consider now. If things did fuck up again, Phoebe could be caught in the crossfire, and neither of us could bare anything ever happening to her. She’s what’s important, so right now that’s all we’re thinking about. Her.” 

Supergirl nodded slowly as she consumed another three doughnuts, taking her time with each. Just as Alex was starting to think that maybe the subject had finally been dropped, however, her sister spoke again. 

"I get that. You guys are being careful and that’s great.  _ But _ this ‘seeing each other all the time, eating meals together, but not dating’ thing has been going on for months. It’s like the anti-lesbian thing, isn't it? Aren't you worried they'll confiscate your snapbacks, or something?" 

This time Alex turned to give Supergirl her full attention, with added pissed off glare, just to get her point across. “Oh and you’re the subject matter expert on this, right?”

Supergirl’s hands shot up in defence. “Hey what-what’s that supposed to mean? What are you talking about?”

"I'm saying that if clueless was a scent, it would smell like you and—”

_ "We've got movement,"  _ Agent Vasquez’s voice suddenly spoke across their comms, cutting off the conversation. 

"Copy that," Alex nodded to Supergirl, who swallowed down the last of her doughnut, licked the sugar from her fingers then stood next to her sister, ready to fly them both down to the alley below on Alex’s signal. "We're in position. Let's do this."

She really should have known that it wouldn’t be a straightforward mission.These days, nothing ever seemed to be straightforward any more. Nobody played by the rules. These aliens they were trying to apprehend shouldn’t have been armed. All the intelligence had suggested they were just unarmed couriers moving the kryptonite from A to B, nothing more.

Which was why the explosion came out of nowhere, and nobody saw it coming. A deafening boom, the ground literally shaking in a three block radius that could easily have been mistaken for a minor earthquake, if one didn’t know any better. A wall of hot air slammed into Alex, throwing her backwards until she collided with a very solid brick wall, then fell to her hands and knees.

Vision blurred, sounds muffled behind an incessant ringing, her center of gravity completely off, for a moment she had no idea what was up, what was down, what was left, and what was right. Blinking furiously to try and clear her vision, she finally started to become aware of voices, gradually filtering through the piercing clamour in her ears. At first they were just noise as well, but slowly words began to distinguish themselves. 

_ “...Director?!...you...me?” _

_ “...Danv...are...there?” _

“Alex!”

A blurred shape appeared in front of Alex, gold and red and pink and blue. Blinking again, her vision cleared a little, just enough that she could now make out Supergirl crouched in front of her, one hand on Alex’s shoulder. 

“Alex?...Alex?...ALEX!”

“Don’t...shout…” Alex groaned, a trembling hand rising to the back of her throbbing head, her palm coming away sticky with something vivid crimson.

"Hey, I’ve got you!” Supergirl was gripping both of her shoulders now. “Oh, Rao. It's alright. I'm here. I've got you. It's going to be okay. You're going to be—”

Whatever else Supergirl said, Alex didn’t hear as she pitched forward, tumbling into a black void of darkness and silence.

<><>

An incessant beeping noise pulled at Alex’s consciousness. It was a regular ‘beep, beep, beep,’ and as much as she wanted to roll over and go back to sleep, it just wouldn’t shut up. When a chair creaked followed by a throat clearing, Alex’s adrenaline surged, and her eyes shot open. This was most definitely not her bedroom. Starkly white from the walls to the bed sheets, she’d recognize the med bay in the DEO anywhere. She’d also recognize the woman sitting next to her scrolling through a phone anywhere.

“Maggie?”

“Alex!” Maggie practically leapt to her feet, whatever she was doing on her phone instantly forgotten. “You’re awake! Damn, Danvers, you gave us a scare. If you needed a nap, there were easier ways to go about it.”

Alex grinned, but it quickly turned into a grimace, as she squinted her eyes shut briefly, raising a hand slowly to gently rub her eyelids. Then she carefully opened her eyes and took a calming breath. “Okay, what happened? How did I end up back at the—” A thought occurred to her, and she tried to sit up quickly, but a gentle, albeit firm hand from Maggie held her in place. “Fuck! Phoebe! I need to go pick her up! Shit, am I late?!”

“Hey, chill. Phoebe is fine. She’s with your sister. She’s probably more than fine. They’re getting ice cream.”

“Ice cream,” Alex nodded, giving up the struggle to sit up, laying back and closing her eyes again, one hand to her head. “Okay, she’s safe. Good. That’s what matters. That’s all that matters.”

"Hey, you getting better matters too. You had us all pretty scared. You've been out of it since Friday."

“Since— Wait, what?” Alex’s eyes snapped open again as she looked back towards Maggie in alarm. “What day is it?”

"It's Saturday afternoon. Just relax and—“ 

"Fuck! This was my weekend with Phoebe! I had one job this weekend. One damned job, and that was to give her a good time. And I fucked up. I couldn’t even get that right. God damn it. Was she… was she very upset that I wasn’t there to get her from school?” She cringed slightly, almost afraid of the answer.

“Hey, Danvers,” Maggie sat on the edge of the bed and gently cradled Alex’s face with her hand, “don’t beat yourself up. That’s the bad guys’ job, and they’ve got a union. You don’t want to cross that. Phoebe knows you didn’t forget her. She gets it. Look.” She tapped at a small cabinet next to Alex’s bed, causing Alex to twist around a bit to get a better view. Hanging there was a piece of construction paper with a child’s drawing. It was clearly Alex even without the name neatly scrawled across the bottom, and behind her were several smaller figures. “See? That’s a bunch of kids, and you’re protecting them, Danvers. You’re her hero.”

Alex felt a tear sting the corner of her eye, but fought to hold it back as she reached out a trembling hand to try and take the picture for a closer look, but it was just slightly out of her reach, so she quickly gave up trying and decided that she’d look at it later when she was back up on her feet once more. “She’s really okay about what happened?”

“Which part of ice cream with Kara don’t you get? You’ve seen those two kids before. Two peas in a pod.” Maggie carefully brushed at a few loose hairs falling over Alex’s eyes. “She gets it. You always put everyone first. She's proud of you, Danvers, worried but proud. There's a lot of that going around." 

“Wait, you're not mad?” Alex watched Maggie carefully for her reaction, trying to judge it, even as she added, “Because I put work first. I mean, I didn’t choose to end up in here, and I still don’t know how I did, but… work came first, and I really am sorry. But you’re not shouting at me. I was expecting shouting or screaming or something.”

“Shouting ‘cause you're a goddamn hero? Nah. That's who you are, who you'll always be.” She ran her hand from Alex’s hair to across her cheek. “It's just one of the things I love about you.”

When Maggie tried to pull her hand back, Alex grabbed it, then turned her eyes up to Maggie’s, holding her gaze, brown eyes to brown eyes. “I love you too.” 

There was a moment’s pause as Maggie tilted her head to one side. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” 

Maggie grinned, and her dimples deepened. It was a gentle smile, but the familiarity and warmth tugged at Alex’s heart. It said acceptance. It said safety. It said… forever. Maggie pulled her hand back again, but this time, she tugged Alex's hand with it and pulled it to her lips, kissing the back of Alex’s worn, well used and slightly grazed knuckles gently. Tenderly, even. “Well good. We do need to work on you ducking instead of leading with your face though. Even a head as thick as yours can get cracked.”

"Maybe I need a new sparring partner." 

"Maybe you do." 

"Any suggestions?" 

"For a partner for you, for sparring I mean?” Maggie winked, and it was playful and casual in every way Alex didn’t know she needed until now. It was like she’d let out a breath she’d been holding for months. “Yeah, one name comes to mind."

“You’re awake.” With a broad smile on her face, Kara stood in the doorway with Phoebe by her side, but Phoebe didn’t stay there for long. She merely stared for a moment before she ran straight for Alex and launched herself onto the bed, into Alex’s arms.

“Hey, easy there, kiddo. Don’t break Alex,” Maggie said.

"I was scared you wouldn’t wake up, but Aunt Kara said you'd be okay. I'm just glad you are, Mommy."

Alex had opened her mouth to say something, but froze, her eyes going wide as the realisation of one simple word dawned on her. One word that Phoebe had just used, which stole all the breath from Alex’s lungs. Time seemed to stand still for an eternity as she looked first to Kara, then to Maggie and could see the same expressions mirrored on their faces as well. Wide-eyed, open mouthed, it could have been comical if the implications of that one single word weren’t so huge.

Finally, Maggie broke the awkward silence. "You have nothing to worry about, kiddo. This lady is tough. She's not going anywhere."

Phoebe pulled herself back from where she was buried into Alex’s shoulder and glanced back and forth between Maggie and Alex. Her expression was inscrutable and well beyond her almost five years. “You're not going anywhere either, are you?”

“Nah, you're stuck with me.” Maggie gently ran a hand down Alex's cheek again. “Both of you. Now if you two lovely ladies can excuse me for a moment, I’m gonna go grab a doctor who isn’t in a hospital bed to check Alex out.”

Maggie had only gotten two steps when Kara made a strangled noise, the sound of excitement squeezing out of Kryptonian lungs, and then a high pitched, "Yes!" broke free. Maggie didn’t even get to brace for impact before she was unceremoniously scooped into the air and twirled about, Kara practically tossing the smaller woman around in her joy.

“Don’t - Kara - break - stop - down.” Maggie’s words started and stopped, coming in bursts as air rushed out of her lungs between squeezes.

“Finally,” Kara said as she gave Maggie one last hug and placed her (more like a short drop) onto the floor. “I thought you two were going to set the world record for not dating while dating. If I knew this was all it would take, I would have knocked Alex out myself months ago.”

“Hey, no!” Alex pointed an accusing finger at her sister. “You’ve done that once, and I swore I would never let you do it again! And now that you’ve broken poor Maggie, you can go and find the doctor instead.”

“She’s not broken. She’s just a little… bent.” When Maggie sat heavily on a chair and waved aimlessly, Kara pouted and mumbled as she walked out the door. “Fine, but I give the best hugs. Lena says I give the best hugs. You people just don’t appreciate them.”

When she’d gone, Alex pulled Phoebe close again with one arm even as she held out her other hand to Maggie, to hold her hand. “Hey, you okay?”

“Yeah, just remind me to give your sister good news over the phone for my own safety.”

“Aunt Kara needs to use her gentle hands or she could break people and buildings,” Phoebe said into Alex’s shoulder.

“Nah the trick is to have a box of doughnuts on hand to throw at her and— wait, what was that Phoebe?” Alex glanced down at the little girl snuggled into her.

Phoebe rolled over a bit, holding up both hands, palms out. “We use our gentle hands.”

“And… why do you think that Aunt Kara could break, um… could break buildings?” Alex ventured cautiously. “People can’t break buildings. They’re too big and strong, and people are only little.”

“Some people can. Aunt Kara can.”

Alex glanced up at Maggie in alarm before, trying to keep her voice as casual as possible, she asked, “What makes you think that?”

“Cause I saw her carry that big wooden box for Jimmy that he couldn’t pick up, and she breathed on the ice cream to keep it from melting, and her microwave broke once, so she looked at the popcorn bag to make popcorn, and when we were playing hide and seek, I saw her onesie in her closet, but I don’t think it’s a onesie.”

“I… I… she… I’m  _ actually _ going to kill her,” Alex grumbled, squinting her eyes shut for a moment. “What part of ‘secret’ does she not understand?! For fu—dgesicle’s sake!” 

Maggie began to laugh, a small titter that became a chuckle and then a full blown guffaw. It took a full minute before she was able to pull herself to sitting upright and wiping away tears. “Well, it's official. I guess it runs in the family.”

“Care to explain, Chuckles?” Alex scowled, failing to see the funny side.

“Come on, look at those cheeks,” Maggie said, pointing at Phoebe who was smiling at Maggie’s antics. “I give to you the next generation of Detective Dimples.”

Alex looked from one set of dimples to the other, and finally she grinned as well. And then she started to laugh as well, as at last she also saw the funny side. She held out her hand again and made a motion for Maggie to join them. “Come here you. Group hug.”

Maggie climbed onto the other side of the bed so she could embrace Alex and snuggle in close. “You know, Danvers, a girl could get used to this.”

“Good,” Alex smiled, placing a gentle kiss first on Phoebe’s forehead, then on Maggie’s. “I’m counting on it.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
